Ascent to the Stars
by MysticFangs
Summary: Kine Reythef is an assassin that was transported out of her world filled with violence into one filled with peace. How different is this new world from hers? Will her presence disrupt the modern world? And how will she find her way, especially when her past wants to follow her around.
1. The Beginning

**This is the fanfiction that is replacing Free Spirits. There will be a little bit of violence, but I'm new at stuff like that, so there won't be too much of that. Oh, and cursing. Some people just have potty mouths. Enjoy!**

* * *

An assassin snuck through the woods trying to find her next target. Her long dark curly brown hair was in a ponytail, and her brown eyes sparkled with excitement behind her glasses.

 _Just like hunting a deer,_ she thought.

She snuck further, and found her target. It was a man, probably around his twenties. He was cornered against a few rocks. The girl held her gun up, and the man turned around.

"Please!" he said, "Don't kill me!"

"Sorry," said the girl smiling, "But you're my next target. I can't let you get away."

"Who are you?!" the man asked, "At least tell me your name!"

"My name is Kine Reythef, the person who will end you."

Kine held her gun in her right hand, and shot the man in the chest, right in the heart,

"My blades could have been better for this," she said, "Oh well, I haven't used my gun in a while."

Kine sheathed her gun, and started walking away. When she was pretty far from where she killed the man, she heard sounds of fighting. Seconds later, her phone started ringing. She picked it up, and answered the call.

 _'Alpha,'_ said the voice on the other end.

"What?" asked Kine.

 _'Your position is near the fighting with the creatures, and the idiots of the military are trying to take them down.'_

"What do you want me to do about it?" asked Kine.

 _'Be the one to take them down,'_ said the person as if it was obvious, _'We were chose to do it in the first place.'_

Kine sighed. "But why run the risk of dying from those creatures? Let the shit-faced idiots do it."

 _'That is not the point, we are the ones who are supposed to kill creatures! The military is supposed to protect people, and only kill if necessary."_

"Fine," said Kine, "I will take the creatures down."

 _'We are all counting on you Alpha.'_

Kine silently ran to where the noise was coming from. When she got to the battlegrounds, she saw many members of the military being burned, electrocuted, or sliced into pieces. Blood littered the ground, as well as bodies. Kine climbed up one of the trees on the edge of the battlefield, and got her gun ready. It was just a plain black revolver. Kine barely uses her gun, so she never runs out of bullets.

Kine pointed her gun at a creature that looked like a horse with a horn atop its head. Its mane and tail were made of flames. The horse was running over people and burning others all at the same time. Kine pulled the trigger, and hit the horse in the head, effectively killing it. Some of the soldiers stopped fighting and just looked at her. That was their mistake. They were cut to pieces by red and green blurs. All the soldiers that had been cut up had wide eyes right when they realized they were dead. In other words, the soldiers had wide eyes right before they were cut up. Kine rolled her eyes.

 _That's what they get for not paying attention,_ she thought, _Damn idiots._

Kine turned her attention to the creatures that had killed the soldiers. One was red, and the other two were green. They were big bugs. The green ones had scythes for arms, and the red one had sharp, crab-like claws. The three bugs looked right at Kine. All of the creatures knew where she was because the soldiers that died had looked up at her. Kine put her gun in the holster on her right thigh, and took out her twin blades. She held them so that the blades were aligned with her elbows **(sort of like how a Gallade's blades are)** , which was the first way she learned how to use them.

Kine jumped down from the tree, and landed perfectly on the ground. The three bugs watched her as she jumped down. Once Kine made contact with the ground, she immediately sprinted toward the bug like creatures. She was able to slice one of the green ones in half, covering her blades, and part of her arms, in blood. She then quickly moved to cut up the other green bug. She was going to move on to the red bug, but it jumped out of the way. The assassin growled in frustration.

The red bug creature lunged at Kine, but she was able to block it with her blades. She stepped back, and the red bug lunged again. She got out of the way again, and climbed up a tree. Kine waited for the creature to jump up at her, and when it did, she cut its head off. She looked around at the rest of the creatures, and spotted some that looked like big dogs that had stripes like tigers. Kine decided to switch the way she was holding her blades. She held the in the second way she was taught, which was just holding them like regular swords. She ran toward the big dogs, and started helping the soldiers fight them.

Kine had to jump out of the way of many blasts of fire, while trying to land hits on the big dogs as well. Somehow, she was able to get in close enough to stab one of the dogs and kill it. All the soldiers around her kept getting burned alive. Kine quickly ran to get up in a tree since almost everyone around her was dead.

Kine was able to get very high on the tree, and she was able to truly watch the battle going on under her. Kine saw more and more soldiers fall, and watched until the last few were fighting. The emotionless assassin was starting to feel a little fear watching the battle go on.

 _Can we actually win?_ she asked herself, _Or is this just a lost cause?_

Kine decided to jump back into the battle after the little breather she took in the tree, and she took her gun out again. She aimed at the last dog, since the soldiers were able to kill another one somehow, and shot it. Kine then looked down at the last few pokemon, a pack of big lions that had electricity sparking off of their manes. Kine looked at the lion on the front, which looked like the leader of the pack.

 _Kill the leader and the followers fall apart,_ thought Kine, _That's how it goes._

She successfully killed the leader of the pack of lions. The opposite of what she expected to happen happened. Instead of falling apart, the rest of the lions looked angrier than before. Kine gulped.

 _Shit_.

Kine held her blades the first way—with the blades pointed out towards her elbows—and started attacking the rest of the lions. She slashed at all of them and was able to kill two or three that had underestimated her.

 _Two more,_ she thought. Kine slashed one of the lion's neck, and blood gushed out. Her right arm got covered in the creature's blood. Kine smirked and was about to attack the other one, when suddenly, she felt pain in her left shoulder. She felt some electricity hitting her as well, and then Kine felt her left arm go numb.

Kine flinched, and then wasted no time in stabbing the lion son of a bitch in the eye. The lion creature immediately dislodged its jaws from Kine's shoulder and growled. Kine was about to attack the lion while it was down, but along with not being able to feel her left arm, she could not move it. The paralysis was slowly spreading to the rest of her body.

Kine let out a flurry of curse words once she realized what was happening. The remaining soldiers learned from their fallen comrades' mistake and did not look at the assassin. Kine saw an opening and saw the chance to escape. Kine sheathed her twin blades as quick as lightning, and started running.

A young soldier was watching Kine make her move to leave. He was only 15 years old, two years younger than Kine. The boy was about to say something to get Kine's attention, but she suddenly turned around. The boy's eyes widened in horror. He saw that her left shoulder was covered in blood, and that there was blood all over her.

"What are you doing?!" he yelled at her, "Why are you just leaving us for ourselves?!"

Kine turned around and smirked. "You expect me to die for you?" she asked, "How naïve can you get? Look kid, I only look out for number one—me. If things look bad for me, I am gone."

"You cannot just do that!" he yelled in frustration.

"I can and I will," answered Kine, almost as if she were challenging the young soldier, "Just watch me."

Kine turned around and started running again. As she was running, she felt her right arm go numb. It was only a matter of time before the paralysis moved down to her legs. Kine looked around to find a cave, and she found one near a river. She quickly ran into the cave, then once she was in, she collapsed against the cave's wall. She was getting dizzy from the blood loss, and when she tried to get up again, she found out that both of her legs were paralyzed.

 _Damn,_ she thought, _Now I'm just a sitting duck out here._

Kine tried to get up, but her legs were paralyzed. She growled in frustration.

"Just fucking perfect," she muttered. Kine kept sitting there, and listened to the echoes of the battle going on. She eventually passed out from the blood loss.

* * *

As the assassin layed there sleeping, a little creature flew around her. It was green with blue eyes, and it had little blue wings. The little creature also had little antennae, and black circles around its eyes. This creature's name is Celebi. Celebi flew around Kine, and it looked a little worried. Celebi shouted out, and then two other creatures appeared next to it. One was blue, and looked like a dinosaur in a way. It had different colored blue markings on its body, as well as a red jewel in the middle of its chest. This was Dialga. The other creature that had appeared with Dialga was small and cat-like. It had a pink body, and it had blue eyes. This creature's name was Mew.

Celebi, Dialga, and Mew all put their powers together, and there was a bright white light, with a few colors of the rainbow inlcuded. Once the light had disappeared, Celebi, Dialga, and Mew were gone. All that was left was Kine in her clothes from the battle. Kine was laying down in the forest where someone would be able to see her, since her shoulder was not healed, nor was she healed of her paralysis.

As Kine was laying in the grass, a creature that looked like a little fox was watching her. It was a golden little fox, and had six orange colored tails and fur on the top of its head. The little foxes paws looked like they were a greenish color. This creature was a Vulpix.

The Vulpix stepped closer to Kine and started poking at her.

 _"Is this human ever going to wake up?"_ asked the fox creature. The Vulpix looked at the assassin and saw that she was paralyzed.

 _"I guess that's why,"_ she said. The Vulpix started trying to wake up Kine, but it wasn't working. As the Vulpix was looking around for an idea on how to wake up the girl in front of it, a man in a lab coat was walking by. He had short brown hair, and looked at the Vulpix and Kine.

"What happened here?" he asked.

* * *

 **That is the end of the first chapter. I apologize for it being out so late; a lot of things came up, including Fanfiction being down. I also had loads of schoolwork and volleyball practices and tournaments. There will not necessarily be fast updates on this, but I will get the chapter posted as frequently as I can.**


	2. What the Hell is a Pokemon!

The man in the lab coat looked at the Vulpix and Kine. It finally dawned on him that Kine was hurt. He freaked out, then picked up the assassin and carried her to the town that was not that far off.

The Vulpix slowly followed behind the man in the lab coat. He brought Kine to the hospital in the town nearby. He was confused by this girl. There weren't any electric pokemon in this area, never mind any that could inflict a wound like that. He carried  
the mysterious girl to the hospital.

"Finally," said the man in the lab coat, completely winded, "I made it to Cherrygrove."

A woman was walking by, and saw the man that was carrying Kine. She smiled.

"Why hello Professor Elm," she said happily, "What are you doing in Cherrygrove?"

 _What's wrong with this lady?_ questioned the Vulpix, who was still following behind, _She hasn't even noticed that the human that professor is carrying needs help!_

Professor Elm said, "I-I'm sorry, but I really have to go! Goodbye!"

The woman then noticed the girl Professor Elm was carrying.

"Oh my goodness!" said the woman, "The hospital is that way! Follow me!"

Professor Elm followed the woman toward the hospital. Once he was inside, the doctors and nurses took Kine from Professor Elm. The professor sighed. His lab coat has some of Kine's blood on it.

"Professor Elm," said one of the nurses at the front desk, "You should go home and clean up. New Bark Town is not too far from here correct?"

Professor Elm nodded. "It won't take too long," he said, "Is she going to be alright?"

"Don't worry about it," said the nurse, "She'll be all patched up in no time."

Professor Elm nodded, and then left. The Vulpix from earlier slowly stepped in so she could find Kine. Since she was a shiny Vulpix, sneaking in was not so easy. Every person there would look at her, and she had to avoid some pokeballs being thrown at  
her. She eventually ran out of the room and decided to go the back way.

 _Okay Fia,_ said the vulpixto herself, _You jist need to find a way to get to that human._

Fia the Vulpix decided to keep looking for a way to get in that did not draw attention from everyone in the room to her. Fia made her way into the hospital, and then she made her way to a hallway where there were a lot of nurses and a few doctors. Fia  
was happy when she saw all the people. She was sure that this meant the girl she found was in there.

Fia paused when she saw what was going on in the window. Fia tried to find a way to hide herself, but there really was no way to hide herself. She was left wishing she was a ghost pokemon so she could hide herself. Fia saw that Kine was still unconscious,  
but her body was slowly being healed of paralysis. Fia watched the doctors patch up Kine's wound, and completely heal her paralysis.

After a one or two hours, Kine was taken to a recovery room. Fia followed the doctors and nurse the entire way there. Fia watched them lay Kine down on a bed. She waited for the doctors to leave, and as they were walking out the room, she went inside.  
Fia walked over to the bed Kine was sleeping in, jumped up on the bed, and sat on the assassin's stomach. Long after it had become dark outside, Fia fell asleep on Kine's stomach.

After one day, Kine woke up. She looked around and the first thing she noticed, was the bright white ceiling and sheets. Then she looked to her side and saw the Vulpix. Kine immediately jumped out of bed. She held her left shoulder that was erupting in  
pain.

 _Why is a creature here?!_ thought Kine, _And why am I here?!_

A doctor came in, and knocked on the door after he had opened it. Kine looked at him cautiously.

"This Vulpix stayed with you the entire time," said the doctor, "Are you its trainer?"

Kine just looked at the doctor with a confused expression. "A trainer?" she asked.

"Yes," said the doctor, "A Pokemon Trainer. You should go to Professor Elm's lab to register as one. But, seeing how old you are, you should already be one."

"What the hell is a pokemon?" asked Kine. The doctor looked surprised.

"Have you been living under a Graveler your entire life?" said the doctor, "A pokemon is just what that Vulpix is. We humans do our best to live in harmony with them."

"Live in harmony?" scoffed Kine, "With those creatures?"

"Why do you call it a creature?" asked the doctor. Kine didn't answer. In fact, she didn't know how exactly she would answer that question.

"That iswhat they have always been called," she finally answered.

"Not here they're not," said the doctor, "What region are you from?"

Seeing how Kine still did not understand, the doctor sighed. How could a 17 year old girl not know what the regions were, but more importantly, how could she not know about pokemon?

"Right now, we are in Johto," said the doctor, "The other regions are Kanto, Hoenn, Unova, and Kalos. Does any of that sound familiar?"

Kine shook her head again, and th Doctor sighed again. "You'll be ready to leave in a few days. In the meantime, get some rest and stay in bed."

Kine didn't do as the doctor said; she stayed standing. The doctor sighed, and left the room. Once the door shut, Kine looked around. She still had her glasses on, but she was not wearing her usual clothes. Instead, she was wearing a hospital gown that  
was sort of like a robe.

Kine started looking around to see what else was in her little room. She looked around for her gun and twin blades, but could not find them anywhere. She searched around a bit more, then she finally found them. Her gun and twin blades were on a high shelf  
next to the television in her room.

Kine walked over to where she saw her gun and blades, and tried to get them off. She reached with her left hand, but felt the pain in her shoulder all over again.

"Damn that hurts," she muttered. Kine then decided to use her right arm to get all her weapons. After a few tries, she was finally able to get all of her weapons down from the shelf. As Kine was doing this, Fia had woken up and was watching her.

 _Why does that human have all of that?_ Fia asked herself, _It doesn't make sense._

Kine noticed that Fia was looking at her immediately. Kine turned around and glared at the Vulpix.

"What do you want?" asked Kine.

"Vul! Pix, vulpix!" answered Fia. Kine sighed.

"I cannot understand you," she said.

"Vul pix pix vul," said the fire type pokemon.

Kine sighed again, and looked down at her gun. _I could kill it right now,_ she thought, _But what purpose would that serve? In all this time, it has not tried to attack me. Not even once._

Kine decided to put away her weapons. If that thing decided to attack her, she would kill it.

Kine walked to the window in the room, and looked outside. It looked like she was on the second or third floor of the building, and it looked like the hospital was located in a city. There were a lot of people walking around, and there were no signs of  
fighting, whether it was people or these "pokemon".

"It's so different," muttered the assassin, "Where the hell am I?"

Kine sat back down on the bed, and looked back at the foxpokemon. "What are you anyway?" she asked, "I have never seen anything like you before."

 _Seriously?!_ thought Fia, _The doctor said I was a Vulpix!_

Kine crossed her arms, and thought if the doctor had said anything about the creature sitting in front of her.

"...Vulpix," Kine said at last, "That's what you are right?"

Fia nodded her head. Kine looked away from Fia, and then back at her. Kine ended up sighing again, as did Fia. This was going to be a long time in the hospital.

* * *

 **So that is the end of this chapter. Sorry it took so long to get out, but I had already warned you about it.**

 **Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter. Bye!**


	3. A Pokemon Trainer?

**I'm back! Terribly sorry for the extremely late update, I was busy with finals and other school related things. But now it's summer, and I probably won't take as long to update. By the way, I suggest you read the last few chapters. The reason? I updated some things. I realized that having a Pumpkaboo in the Johto region is kind of strange, so I changed that. Anyway, enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

Kine woke up another day in the hospital. The pain in her left shoulder had subsided greatly, but she was bored out of her mind. Kine threw her pillow across the room.

"It's so boring here!" yelled Kine in frustration. Fia, who had still been in the room, looked at Kine in confusion. Fia could not understand this human's behavior. One minute, she was quiet, and then the next, she was loud and acted like a normal human.

Kine looked at Fia. "Why are you still here?" asked Kine, "I could kill you...yet you stay."

"Pix."

Kine sighed. "I won't ever understand you, huh?"

"Vul, vul pix."

Kine got up and walked over to the pillow and picked it up. She actually sort of liked that pillow. Kine was able to get a look at herself. The color was slowly coming back, and she didn't look like she had just gone to hell and back, which wasn't too far off from the truth, considering what her world was like.

Kine looked at the bandage on her shoulder and reached toward it to unwrap it, but she decided against it. She would probably have to stay in the hospital for even more time if she reopened the wound. Although the it had healed significantly, there was still a long way to go before it was fully healed.

Kine walked back to the bed and sat down. She looked at Fia.

"I need a name for you," muttered Kine, "I can't just keep calling you _the_ _weird fox_ forever."

"Vul."

It looked like the fox Pokemon had agreed to this. Kine started thinking of all the names she thought would fit it.

"Male or female?" asked Kine.

The Vulpix looked like it was insulted. It turned around with its back facing Kine. Then it twirled around in an attempt to look stylish. When Kine didn't respond, the Vulpix used Heat Wave on her. Kine dodged easily, but the bed wasn't so lucky. The move had broken through the mattress, and now there was a hole in Kine's bed with burnt edges. Kine looked at the Vulpix with wide eyes.

"What the hell?! There was no reason to attack!" yelled Kine. The Vulpix smirked and turned away.

"Fine, then I guess you're a girl," growled Kine. She started thinking about names for this golden fox.

 _Ash? No. Cinder? No. Blayze? No._

Kine kept thinking of more names, but none of them seemed to feel right.

"Hm," said Kine, "What about...Fia?"

The Vulpix twirled around in a circle, very happy with that name. _She actually got my name right!_ thought Fia, _I've never seen a human do that before!_

Kine was surprised. This Vulpix was acting happy just because it was given a name. No, that couldn't have been it.

 _Maybe I got the name right,_ thought Kine.

There was a knock on the door, and the doctor walked in. He looked at the bed win wide eyes. Kine was now indifferent, and Fia was trying to act normally, but it wasn't working for the Vulpix. Kine looked at the doctor.

"Do you need something?" she asked. The doctor pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I just wanted to let you know that you are being released tomorrow."

Kine was overjoyed, but her expression remained indifferent. She nodded toward the doctor. The doctor stayed in the room, as if he wanted to say something else. Kine raised an eyebrow.

"What?" she asked.

"Tomorrow, pay a visit to Professor Elm. He lives in New Bark Town, the next one over."

"Why would I do that?"

"He saved your life," said the doctor, "It's because of him that you're alive right now."

Kine just looked away, and after a little while, she heard the door close. Kine then looked over at the door.

"Someone actually...saved someone like me?" she said in disbelief. She then looked up at the ceiling. "This place is so different."

Fia looked at her curiously. _What happened to this person?_ she thought.

Kine lounged around for a while, then a nurse brought in some food. It was a Taurus burger with some cheri berry juice. Recently, they had been giving Kine a lot of cheri berry juice, probably for the paralysis that had healed a long time ago. It was mainly for the after effects of the paralysis.

The rest of the day was spent lounging around in the hospital room. At one point, Kine tried to practice using her twin blades, but it was proving to be very difficult, and she would immediately lose if she were in a real fight. Whenever she did something with her left arm, be it stabbing slashing, or anything of the sort, she felt pain in her shoulder.

"Damn," muttered Kine, "I thought I was better by now. I probably just overdid it."

Kine sheathed her twin blades, and then sat back down on the bed. She layed down, and looked up at the white ceiling. Kine was breathing heavily, and Fia was worried about her.

* * *

The next day, Kine was allowed to leave. Since her other clothes were destroyed, she was given a navy blue shirt with a black zip up hoodie, black cargo pants, and black high tops with white soles. Kine put on her glasses, and let her hair down, not restricted by any hair ties. Her gun was still on the holster on her right thigh, and the sheaths that contained her twin blades were on the back of her waist, right under her lower back.

Kine left the hospital building, and Fia followed her. When Kine was out, she remembered what the doctor had told her.

 _Pay a visit to Professor Elm. Her lives in New Bark Town, the next one over. He saved your life._

Kine sighed. She decided to go to see this Professor Elm after all. Fia walked around Kine, and then eventually decided to jump up and sit on her right shoulder, the one that was not injured.

As Kine was walking, she noticed that she and Fia were getting a lot of attention. Kine was getting a lot of attention because of her gun and blades, and Fia was getting attention because she was a shiny pokemon. The trainers were stuck to Kine like glue; she couldn't shake them.

Kine wanted to just take out her blades and get rid of all the trainers, but a majority of them were just children. Plus, a lot of people were watching. It would end up being...complicated, to say the least. Kine sighed, and just let them all follow her. One girl walked up to Kine.

"Your Vulpix is amazing!"

Kine didn't answer. She just decided to ignore all the trainers around her. The same girl that had just asked Kine the question looked at Kine's belt. She didn't see any pokeballs.

"Hey," said the little girl, "Where are all of your pokeballs?"

All of the trainers following Kine just stopped. Did this mean that the shiny Vulpix was wild?! A majority of the Pokemon Trainers got pokeballs out, ready to throw them at Fia. Kine finally decided to speak.

"If any of you throw one of those, I will make you regret you were ever born," she threatened. Many of the younger trainers stepped back and put away the pokeballs, but there were a few that still had theirs out and ready to throw.

"You're bluffing!" said a boy.

"Yeah!" said another one, "There's no way you would hurt us."

Kine chuckled at that. "Are you sure?" she said, "Between you and me, I have a gun as well as twin swords, and I am not afraid to use them."

Kine saw the remaining trainers gulp and step back. After a few small moments of shock, they went away. Kine smirked.

"Finally, some peace and quiet."

Fia looked at Kine in shock. _I can't believe she threatened those kids,_ thought Fia, _Where is this girl from? I've never heard of a human acting like this._

Fia got down from Kine's shoulder, and just started walking next to her. Kine walked to a building with an orange roof. Kine reluctantly walked inside, since she didn't know what was inside. When Kine was inside, a kid pointed at her.

"That's her! The one that threatened us!"

Everyone in the building turned to look at the entrance where Kine was standing. Although Kine was completely shocked, she kept her composure. She simply just turned around.

"Let's go Fia."

"Vul."

The two walked out and continued on to New Bark Town. Fia thought she heard Kine say something, so she jumped up on her shoulder to be closer to Kine's face.

"Nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope nope."

Kine kept muttering that word. With every step she took, she muttered _nope_. Once Kine was on the route to head to New Bark Town.

 _I think this is the way,_ she thought. After a long walk, she got to New Bark Town.

The town looked like any normal town, it had it's small buildings, and the normal people that lived there. Kine walked up to a big building, the biggest one in the little town.

 _This is probably it_ , thought Kine, _The place where Professor Elm should be._

Kine walked up to the door, and it swung open in front of her. She starred at the door in shock. She had seen a few doors like these, but not in small towns! Kine's expression soon changed to match what she was feeling. Why was something like this in a small town that probably no one cared about?! Kine slowly walked through the door of what she assumed to be the Pokemon Lab, and watched all the madness in front of her.

People in lab coats were all running around. They were organizing papers, and they were trying to organize books as well. The only person that looked sort of calm was the person in the very back of the lab.

Kine looked at Fia, and the Vulpix looked back at her.

"Should I still go in?" muttered Kine. The Vulpix looked back at her.

"Pix pix vul pix vul."

Kine felt like Fia was scolding her. Kine sighed.

"Ok jeez fine. I'll go in there."

Kine walked in toward the man in the back. He was obviously wearing a lab coat, and he had light brown hair. He turned around as Kine walked up to him. He took a step back, being intimidated by the gun and swords that the girl in front of him had. Then it finally dawned on him.

"You're that girl!" he exclaimed.

"Yes," answered Kine, "I'm assuming that means you are Professor Elm?"

The professor nodded. Kine took a deep breath in, and exhaled. She was about to start talking, but Professor Elm started instead.

"You must be here to become a Pokemon Trainer!"

"A what?"

"A Pokemon Trainer! Here, follow me!"

The professor walked around Kine and started pushing her closer to a machine with three pokeballs inside it. He let all three pokemon out. The first one was a little green dinosaur with a leaf on its head and little dark green buds around its neck. The next pokemon was a little rodent with its eyes closed, and fire that could come out of its back. The final pokemon was a little blue crocodile with red spikes on its back. In order, these pokemon were Chikorita, Cyndaquil, and Totodile.

Professor Elm also got five small pokeballs, and a small handheld device. He gave them to Kine.

"These are some extra pokeballs, and a pokedex," he said, "The pokedex lets you find out more information about the pokemon you see. Now to register you."

"Wait what?!" exclaimed Kine.

"What's your name?"

"Huh?"

"Your name?"

"K-Kine Reythef."

Professor Elm paused. _What a strange name_ , he thought. He entered the name nonetheless, and then gave Kine her trainer card. "This is your identification, and it lets you register for the Pokemon League. Once you are registered, you can take the Pokemon Gym Challenge!"

"What?!"

"Now, I'm assuming that that Vulpix you have with you is not officially yours. Put it in a pokeball, and it will become you official first pokemon!"

Still confused, Kine enlarged a pokeball and held it in front of Fia. Fia pushed the button with her paw, and then a red beam shot out. It hit Fia, and she was sucked into the pokeball. The pokeball then shook three times in Kine's hand, and then clicked. A few seconds later, Fia came out of the pokeball.

"Vul!"

"There you go," said Professor Elm happily. He turned to the Chikorita, Cyndaquil, and Totodile. "Now you just have to pick from one of these guys. Chikorita is the grass type starter, Cyndaquil is the fire type starter, and Totodile is the water type starter."

Chikorita walked over to Kine and looked up at her. "Chika!"

Kine just starred back at the Chikorita. "I guess I'll pick you?" she said, with a little bit of uncertainty in her voice. The Chikorita smiled, jumped up, and did a flip in midair. Professor Elm gave Kine the Chikorita's pokeball.

"What do you want to name her?" he asked Kine.

"Hm...How about Ruva? It means flower." said Kine finally. The Chikorita did another flip and responded with a happy, "Chika!"

Ruva then walked over to Fia, and they both seemed to get along great. They both said something that gave off the feeling that they were very happy.

"And there you go," said Professor Elm, "Now you are officially a Pokemon Trainer! Good luck on your journey!"

Kine was then pushed out of the lab, leaving her more confused than ever.

"What just...happened?" she said in disbelief. Fia and Ruva looked at Kine.

* * *

 _"Hey,"_ said Ruva, _"What's wrong with our trainer? She doesn't even know what a trainer is."_

 _"She's...different,"_ answered Fia, _"I think she's from somewhere very different and far from here."_

 _"Then what do we do?"_ asked Ruva.

 _"I think we just have to stick with her and deal with it,"_ answered Fia. Ruva frowned, and then looked back up at Kine.

* * *

Kine could not believe what had just happened. She somehow became a Pokemon Trainer, and now had two pokemon. She was registered for the Pokemon League, and now had to fight for badges?

 _What is with the people in this world?_ wondered Kine. She looked down at her Vulpix and Chikorita, and they looked back up at her.

"So let's move on to the next city," said Kine. Her pokemon agreed with her, and they walked out of New Bark Town.

* * *

 **Alright, so that's the chapter. I hope you enjoyed it, and I think I might be able to update a little faster because school's out. Again, terribly sorry for this very late update, and I'll see you in the next one.**


	4. Training and Battling

Kine walked out of New Bark Town with her two pokemon, Fia and Ruva. Kine was almost done wrapping her mind around everything that had happened, and she was trying to ignore all the people starring at Fia. The golden fox was uncomfortable with all the attention she was getting, while Ruva really couldn't care less.

It soon started getting dark outside, and Kine barely made it to the next town-Cherrygrove City. Kine sat on a bench and yawned. Her pokemon yawned as well. Fia decided to sleep on Kine's lap, and Ruva snuggled up next to Kine. Kine had decided not to go to the building with the orange roof because of what happened the last time. She had heard that it was called a Pokemon Center, and that they offered rooms there for trainers.

Kine looked up at the night sky. She could sort of make out some stars, and after a while, she looked back down at her pokemon. They were both sleeping peacefully, and Kine could not believe they were the same types of creatures people lived in fear of in her world.

 _Why is this world so different from mine?_ wondered Kine, _Why are people able to live peacefully with these creatures?_

Kine kept mulling things over, and she eventually drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Kine was woken up by voices. It was pretty late in the morning, and there was a crowd of young trainers around her and her pokemon. All of them were pointing at and talking about Fia.

"I've never seen a shiny Vulpix before!"

"That coloring is so cool!"

Kine did not like all these people around her. Not one bit. She glared at all the kids around her, and they all backed away a few feet. Kine quickly woke her pokemon, and she left with them. Kine decided to move on immediately, and went to Route 30.

Kine looked around, and then looked down at Fia and Ruva.

"Ok then," said Kine, "Time to train. Fia, you first."

The Vulpix jumped down from Kine's right shoulder, and she got ready to attack anything. Kine pulled out her pokedex. She was told that she could look up the moves of her pokemon on it. Kine pointed the pokedex at Fia, and found out that her moves were Heat Wave, Hex, Captivate, and Extrasensory.

"Um, use Heat Wave in front of you," said Kine, "Aim at that rock."

Fia nodded, and she used Heat Wave. The move hit the rock, and destroyed it. Kine looked down at her Vulpix. "Nice," said Kine happily, "That will definitely work."

Fia smirked, and then sat down. Kine then looked at Ruva, and Ruva looked back at Kine. Kine then pointed her pokedex at Ruva, revealing that her moves were Tackle and Growl. Kine looked around for a target, and saw a nearby tree. "Use tackle on that tree over there," said Kine, "It looks like it is sturdy enough, so I do not think anything will happen to it."

Ruva nodded and tackled the tree. Luckily, the tree did not fall over, and Ruva looked completely fine. Kine nodded in approval. "Good job you two; those moves will work for now."

"Vul!"

"Chika!"

Kine smirked, and then she saw a Pidgey walking around. "Hey Fia," said Kine, "Use Extrasensory on that Pidgey over there."

Fia nodded and used Extrasensory on the Pidgey. The bird dodged, and then cried out. Kine's guess was that the Pidgey was calling on more of its kind. Kine grinned. "Bring it on little bird!"

Fia and Ruva looked at their trainer worriedly. Soon after, a dozen more Pidgey showed up and were ready to attack Kine and her pokemon. Ruva became more worried since she was a grass type pokemon and weak to flying type attacks.

"Fia, when they get closer, use Heat Wave on as many as you can. Aim for the wings, that will stop them from attacking us, and then we can leave."

Fia nodded. Ruva stepped behind Kine, then jumped up, and she found her pokeball. Once she found her pokeball, she hit the button in the middle to return, causing Kine to be confused by this. She figured she could find out why later. The Pidgey started diving toward Fia. "Now!" yelled Kine, "Start using Heat Wave!"

Fia nodded, and she started using Heat Wave on all the Pidgey that came close. To use the move, what Fia had to do was exhale hot breath on all of the pidgey. The move hit a lot of the enemies around her. Many of the birds fell out of the sky at one. Soon, all of the birds were defeated, and it looked like Fia was out of energy. Kine walked over to her Vulpix, and pet Fia's head.

"You did good," said Kine. Kine took out Fia's pokeball. "Why not take a quick rest in here?"

Kine tried to return Fia to her pokeball, but Fia would not have it. She refused to go in the pokeball. Kine sighed. "I guess you do not like in there."

Fia responded by shaking her head. Kine sighed, and she picked up Fia, and held the Vulpix in her arms. Looking down at Fia, Kine felt more and more guilty, which usually doesn't happen to her. Kine sighed. "Look, my bad okay? You are not that strong yet, and I should not have put you in that situation. Just stop making me feel bad."

Fia smirked, and actually looked a little satisfied with herself. "You little-" muttered Kine, "Does that mean you will go back into your pokeball now?"

Fia shook her head like crazy. "Vul vul pix vul!"

"I will take that as a no."

"Vul."

Kine stood up. She looked around, trying to figure out where to go. She came to the conclusion that if she kept walking straight, she would reach the next town or city. Kine walked further north, and she was able to avoid all the wild pokemon. She kept walking north, and then she reached Route 31. Kine then followed the path west, and she kept walking. Finally, Kine reached the end of the route, and she was in the next city-Violet City.

Kine walked into a building with a purple roof. There was a sign on the outside that said _Pokemon Center_. Kine walked up to the desk where there was a woman with pink hair.

"Welcome to the Pokemon Center!" she said happily, "Here we restore you pokemon to full health. How may I help you?"

The woman noticed Fia in Kine's arms. "Oh dear!" she said, "Here, let me take care of your Vulpix for you. Do you have any other pokemon?"

Kine nodded and took out Ruva's pokeball. She handed it to the woman, and she put it on a tray. She set Fia down on that tray as well.

"You can sit down over there while you wait," said Nurse Joy. Kine had read her name on the name tag she was wearing. Kine nodded and then went over to sit in a chair away from all the other trainers. A few of them were giving her suspicious looks, but Kine just shrugged them off. Kine sighed and started thinking about how she and her pokemon could train without being put in too much danger.

 _Maybe I could have them practice their moves on things like rocks and trees. Or we could take our chances on the routes... I guess that would be fine if I have a way to heal them out in the wild. Should I ask around to find out how I can do that? Ugh! This world is so confusing! It was so much easier when I could just kill people and these creatures! I always knew what I needed to do, and I was not confused by anything!_

Kine felt a tap on her shoulder, and she looked up. It was Nurse Joy with Fia and Ruva's pokeball.

"Thank you for waiting!" she said happily, "Your pokemon are rested up and ready to go!"

Kine took her pokemon back, and nodded to Nurse Joy in thanks. She then got up and left the Pokemon Center. Kine wandered around until she found a shop. It looked like they sold a lot of items to heal pokemon, as well as some pokeballs to catch pokemon. Kine then ended up remembering that she didn't have any money.

"I had left it all at home before I went on my mission," thought Kine, "I had expected only to complete the job, and then be able to go back home."

Kine sighed, and then she walked back out toward Route 31. Fia jumped down from Kine's shoulder, and Kine let Ruva out. "Ok you two, here we are going to do some training. It should not be too hard, and it will give you more experience for the gym battle."

Fia and Ruva nodded. "For training, you two will be practicing your moves as best you can. Since this wor-place is different, if any will pokemon come by, try your best not to kill them." Kine looked down and muttered, "Although because of how I used to do things, I would much rather you kill them...oh well. This shitstorm is crazy enough. It would be better not to get in any trouble with the authorities."

Kine sighed. _I don't know what the rules are here...not that I would follow them anyway. Hm I guess just do the opposite of what I would do?_

"Ok," said Kine, "Fia, you see that Bellsprout over there?" The vulpix nodded. "Use Extrasensory on it. I don't really care if you kill it or not."

Fia nodded and did as she was told. She made the bellsprout faint instead of killing it. Kine nodded. "Good job," she said, "Now Ruva, try to use Tackle on whatever pokemon you see coming toward you."

Ruva nodded as a Weedle start coming toward her. Ruva used tackle on it, and it fainted. "Good job," said Kine.

"Chika!"

Kine looked around, and then sighed. There weren't any wild pokemon coming toward them. A trainer with black hair ran up to Kine. "Battle me!" he shouted.

"Battle? Uh, sure."

"Yes!" said the kid, "Let's do this! Come on out Zen!"

A brown bunny looking creature came out. It had a long ring tail, and a light tan ring on its stomach.

"Sen sentret!"

Kine looked down at Fia. "Do you want to do this Fia?" she asked.

"Vul!"

Fia stepped out in front of Kine. "Vul!"

"I'll take the first move," said the kid, "Zen, use Quick Attack!"

The sentret ran at Fia with amazing speed. "Dodge it," said Kine. Fia jumped out of the way, and avoided Zen's attack.

"Now Fia, use Extrasensory, and do not let it escape."

"Vul!" Fia nodded in agreement, and used Ember on her opponent. Zen wasn't able to dodge in time. The attack hit, and caused a lot of damage to it. Fia smirked and looked satisfied with herself.

"Get up Zen!" said the kid. The pokemon tried to get up, but couldn't. "Use Heat Wave while it is down," said Kine. Fia nodded and used Heat Wave. The sentret was hit yet again, and this time it fainted.

"Aw man," said the kid, "I guess you win. Here."

The kid gave Kine $600. Kine looked at the money in surprise. _This kid is_ _loaded! How come he just carries around that much money for no reason?!_ Kine nodded in response, and accepted the money. The kid picked up his sentret, and then ran off, most likely to go to the Pokemon Center. Once the kid had left, Vulpix roared loudly. Kine and Ruva looked at Fia. Kine took out her pokedex and pointed it at Fia. It now showed that her moves were Heat Wave, Extrasensory, Hex, and Roar.

"So you learned a new move," said Kine. Fia nodded and looked pleased with herself. She then climbed up on Kine's right shoulder again.

Kine started walking further, and her pokemon followed her. Kine walked into Violet City, and got to the Pokemon Center. She was thinking of what she had to do next, and remembered that Professor Elm had told her to register for the Pokemon League at a Pokemon Center. Well, it wasn't like she knew what else to do with her life right now. Kine walked up to the counter where Joy was.

"Hello Miss, how may I help you?"

"I heard that it is possible to sign up for the Pokemon League here?"

Joy smiled. "Of course, just hand me your pokedex."

Kine nodded and did so. Joy took the pokedex, and put it into a machine. A few minutes later, Kine was given back her pokedex.

"You're all registered. Good luck on your battles!"

Kine nodded as she walked out.

* * *

Professor Elm walked around in his lab. No, it was more like he was pacing.

 _Should I call someone? No. But yes, I've waited too long already!_

Professor Elm picked up his PokeGear. Yes, it was outdated with the new HoloCaster out from Kalos, but he didn't care. It wasn't like he really wanted to use it anyway. The professor dialed a number and waited for him to pick up.

 _"Hello?"_

"Lance!"

 _"Oh, hi Professor Elm, is everything alright?"_

"Well you see, there is a girl that came to sign up for the League-"

 _"Is that it? I'm not sure why you need to call me over that."_

"It's not just that! She was a lot older than when standard trainers start their journey, and, until a few days ago, it's like she didn't exist! She didn't have any records, at least, not that I could find. She's been a ghost up 'til now!"

 _"Hmm. That's very concerning."_

"Exactly! That's why I called you! Oh, and there is this other thing..."

 _"What is it?"_

"The girl that I'm talking about...she had two swords, and a gun."

 _"That's crazy!"_

"Y-Yes, I know!"

 _"I'll do my best to look into it."_

"Thank you Lance."

 _"You're welcome. Though I might not be able to do it as quickly with everything that I have to do."_

"O-Of course! Thank you again!"

 _"Mm-hm."_

Professor Elm hung up and sat down in a chair. _I hope Lance can actually find something out._

* * *

Kine sneezed. Fia and Ruva looked at her in surprise.

"Vulpix vul vul!"

"Chika!"

Kine smiled slightly. "It's fine," she said. Her two pokemon nodded in response. Kine sniffled and rubbed her nose. _Hm...that came out of nowhere...Oh well._

Kine looked down at her vulpix. "Fia! Use Roar in the area in front of you."

"Vul!"

Fia used Roar, and everything in the direction she was facing started being blown away. "Okay that's enough!" yelled Kine. Fia stopped and looked at Kine.

"Pix?"

"That is horribly loud, remind me never to make you use that move unless absolutely necessary."

"Vul!" said Fia nodding her head. Ruva smiled nervously. "Chika..."

"Hey you! I wanna battle!"

Kine looked to her right. Another person was running toward her. It was of course, yet another young trainer. He had a poliwag with him. Kine smirked and looked down at Ruva.

"You are strong against water types, correct?"

Ruva nodded. "Chika!"

"So you'll battle me?" asked the kid. Kine nodded. "Alright! Battle begin!" yelled the kid ecstatically, "And I'll go first! Swirl, use Hypnosis!"

A beam was shot toward Ruva. "Jump out of the way," said Kine. Ruva did as Kine told her, and the attack missed. Ruva landed on the ground and smirked as she moved the leaf on her head. Ruva then looked back at Kine.

"Use Tackle," said Kine. Ruva nodded and tackled the poliwag. It fell to the ground and rolled a little bit, due to its round body.

The younger trainer looked at his poliwag in concern. "Swirl no! Please get up, I know you can do it!"

The pokemon slowly got up, sustaining a lot of damage from just a simple Tackle. Scratches covered its sleek, round body, and the poliwag looked very tired. It must have been a low-leveled pokemon. The poliwag's trainer looked like he didn't know what to do next. He was freaking out, and desperately calling out to his poliwag and begging it to get up. The poliwag was slowly working on getting up. Kine looked at Ruva, and the chikorita looked back smiling confidently. Kine put her hands behind her head and shifted her weight to her left foot.

"Ok Ruva, this is boring me, as I am sure it is boring you as well. Use Tackle and end it for the poor child," said Kine. Her chikorita smirked and ran at the poliwag that was still trying to get up from the ground. Ruva tackled Swirl and made it faint. Ruva jumped and did a flip. She was extremely proud of herself. Ruva ran back to Kine and was jumping up and down. She was not going to calm down anytime soon.

The younger trainer returned his pokemon back to its pokeball, and walked over to Kine. He walked to her very slowly, and once he was in front of Kine, he handed her $500. It was less than the first trainer she battled, but it did not matter-Kine now had $1100. Kine happily took the money from the boy, and then walked away. The boy looked like he was going to say something, but he didn't. Instead, he decided to run to the Pokemon Center to heal his poliwag.

Kine looked down at her pokemon. Although Ruva was practically jumping up and down with energy, Fia looked like she was exhausted. The vulpix's movements were lethargic, and her ears were drooping. Fia was hungry, and although Ruva did not want to admit it, she was hungry as well. Kine looked at her two pokemon, wondering what was wrong. She ran through different ideas in her head, until her stomach growled. Kine looked down at her stomach, and then back at her pokemon. "Are the two of you hungry?" asked Kine.

"Vul!"

"Chika!"

Her two pokemon nodded like they were mad. Kine's expression remained stoic, but she said, "Ok then, we will go get some food."

Kine's pokemon cheered in response. Fia got on Kine's right shoulder, and Ruva walked to the left of Kine. They walked back into Violet City, and into a restaurant. Kine saw that there was a long line, and she sighed inwardly. _I guess it cannot be helped,_ she thought, _I do not see another restaurant around here._

Kine got into one of the two lines, and she started to think about what she wanted to order, as well as what she thought her pokemon would like. Kine looked at the many options on the menu. She couldn't decide what she wanted, but she was able to decide what she was getting for Fia and Ruva. Kine finally got to the register.

"What would you like?" asked the lady at the register.

"Two magikarp fillets, and whatever you think is best on the menu."

The lady nodded, and put in Kine's order. "Your order number is 57. Pick it up when your number's called."

Kine nodded and went to find a seat with her pokemon. She found an empty booth and sat down. Fia and Ruva sat across from Kine, and put their front feet on the table. Ruva was still trying to contain all of her energy, and Fia looked like she was pretty happy as well.

 _"I've never been allowed to eat food like this!"_ said Ruva, _"The professor never let us eat food like this!"_

 _"I just can't believe our trainer is letting us eat food_ _like this!"_ said Fia, _"I've never heard of a human doing something like this. They all just act like it's crazy if pokemon eat other pokemon, even though it happens_ _naturally in the wild all the time!"_

Ruva nodded, and Kine looked at her pokemon curiously. She sort of wished that she could understand them. Kine heard her number being called, and she got up from the table to get the food. Kine came back, and gave her pokemon the magikarp. The lady at the register had gotten Kine a tauros burger. Her pokemon started eating their food, and Kine took a bite out of her burger, and smiled. It was a really good burger. She ate it quickly, as her pokemon ate their food just as quickly. Kine looked out the window and sighed. If she had to pay this much everyday for food, she was going to have to find a way to get more money-and quickly. Kine was starting to eat some french fries when a girl walked up to her. The girl had straight light purple hair and dark brown eyes. She was wearing a white shirt with ruffles and black leggings. She was also wearing black heels and had a black and white purse. She held up a hand and smiled.

"Hi there," she said.

"What do you want?" said Kine with an annoyed tone.

"You're the type of person I'm looking for," said the girl happily, "I have a job offer for you."

* * *

 **Ok, so that is the end of this chapter! It actually took me a while to figure out how to end it, actually... But it was pretty convenient how Kine got an offer for a job huh? That doesn't happen in real life. Is there a reason behind it? Or is it just simple convenience? Wanna find out? It'll be revealed sometime in a future chapter.**

 **Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you in the next one.**


	5. Annoying Sprout Tower

Kine looked at the girl in confusion. A job offer? She was just looking for someway to get money. It was pretty suspicious. "What kind of job," asked Kine.

"Well, I'm a Pokemon Coordinator, and I came to Johto to compete. I was looking for a bodyguard to help me while I'm traveling to the next contest. I kind of just got here and I was told to try and find someone to protect me."

"Why should I help you?" asked Kine. The girl smiled.

"I can pay you a lot of money," said the girl, "Let's say...twenty dollars an hour? For however long it takes me to get to contest. Oh, and that also includes nights as well."

Kine was quiet. This offer was very tempting, twenty dollars per hour in a 24-hour day? Very tempting. Kine looked down, and then looked back at the girl. She looked like she was eagerly waiting for Kine to say yes. Kine sighed.

"Why do you want me to do it?"

"Well, I do have a few other people on the job, but they're all older and boring. I wanted to find someone more my age to be closest to me. And you do look like you have the capabilities for this job."

Kine sighed. _How would she even know that I would have the capabilities for this job. She is the type of girl that I would be sent to_ _assassinate._

"Fine. I will serve as your bodyguard."

"Yay!" said the Pokemon Coordinator, "Oh, by the way, my name's Crystal."

Crystal held out a hand. Kine shook Crystal's hand, and she said, "My name is Emlyn."

Crystal nodded. "Nice to meet you Emlyn. I'm gonna call you Em from now on."

Kine could not believe what she was hearing. This girl was acting like Kine belonged to her. Kine just looked at Crystal. "I do not belong to you," said Kine as she got up. She got close to Crystal, and her height intimidated the poor coordinator. "Got that?"

"Yeah... I got it," said Crystal slowly.

Kine walked out of the restaurant, and Crystal followed close behind. Kine needed the money, but she hated having to work for a girl like this—she probably got everything she wanted, and was probably very spoiled as well. Kine was already ready to be finished with this job. Once Kine and Crystal were out of the restaurant, Crystal had the courage to ask a question. Apparently, Kine had frightened her just a smidgen.

"So, are you a trainer Em?" she asked. Kine nodded, and Fia and Ruva both said something happily. Crystal looked at Kine in awe, her apparent nervousness having disappeared. Her eyes sparkled, and she held her hands together in front of her face. Crystal got on her tip toes, if that was even possible while wearing heels.

"I've always wanted to watch a gym battle! Have you fought the gym leader in this city yet? If not, I would really like to watch your battle!"

Kine looked at Crystal. _I can get something done while being with her? This may work out after all._

Kine shook her head. "No I have not battled the gym leader here yet."

Crystal bounced up and down. "So does that mean you can go challenge Falkner right now? I can't wait to see the battle!"

Kine and her pokemon sighed. "Just calm down," muttered Kine. Her vulpix and chikorita seemed to nod. In a louder voice, Kine said, "Fine, I will go challenge the gym. Only because it will get you to calm down."

Kine turned around and started walking in the direction of the gym. Crystal followed her. Although Kine was supposed to be following Crystal and guarding her, it seemed like just the opposite was happening. The two of them walked through the streets of the city trying to find the Pokemon Gym. Although Kine was going to challenge it, she hadn't actually found the gym yet. There were few exits in the cities, as well as houses that people lived in. There were also a few ponds and a bridge leading to a tall tower.

"That's Sprout Tower!" said Crystal, "The gym shouldn't be too far. Isn't that great Em?"

Kine just nodded in response. The gym leaders should all be tough trainers, there just to test how far she has come in her journey. Was Kine's team ready for this? Or was she just going to make them charge in blind, based on a what a girl wanted. Fia and Ruva looked up at their trainer. Fia was a little bit worried, and Ruva was very positive about the upcoming fight, although she was at a disadvantage.

"Did you know that the gym in this town is a flying type gym?" said Crystal, "Your chikorita will be at a disadvantage."

Kine looked over at Crystal in surprise. That meant that Fia was basically going to have to take the gym on by herself. This made Kine worry a little bit more. Would it really be safe to even consider putting Ruva in a fight with her disadvantage? Kine sighed trying to come up with a strategy. Heat wave was pretty strong, and if that did not work, she could have Fia use Extrasensory, or Hex. So, she had three move options for Fia to use that could work against Falkner's pokemon. Kine finally located the gym, and was standing right in front of it.

"Ooo I can't wait!" said Crystal happily. Crystal suddenly seemed to realize what Kine was wearing. Kine was about to walk into the gym, when Crystal called out. "Wait! Em!"

Kine looked over at Crystal. "What?" she deadpanned. Crystal looked like it was an emergency.

"I can't let you go in like that!" yelled Crystal. Many people turned to look in their direction.

"It is just a gym battle," said Kine, "I do not think I have to get dressed up for it."

"Yes you do!" said Crystal, "At least, if I'm to be seen with you, you just have to!"

Kine gave Crystal a look. "Are you serious? I have to get dressed up if I am to be seen with you?"

Crystal nodded. "Yeah. That's what you have to do. Don't worry, I saw a place to buy clothes."

Crystal led Kine to the little store she had seen earlier. It wasn't that far from the restaurant Kine had been in earlier. Crystal practically pushed Kine inside. Kine was pushed into a dressing room, and handed a bunch of clothes. Kine had to try a bunch of different clothes that included skirts, and too many frilly shirts. Kine was finally able to get some black pants, a navy blue dress shirt, and black boots with tops that folded down. Kine walked out of the dressing room. Crystal looked really happy about it.

"Perfect!" said Crystal happily. Kine just looked away from her.

"Tch."

Crystal pouted in response. "Come _on_! You don't have to be mean like that."

Kine didn't respond. Fia and Ruva got closer to their trainer, since they didn't go in while Kine was changing. Fia jumped up on Kine's shoulder, and Ruva walked beside Kine. Crystal giggled.

"It looks like they both have their assigned spots next to you."

Kine didn't respond yet again, and it caused Crystal to sigh. She wanted to talk to a person, not a damn wall. She sighed and followed Kine out of the store. When they were out, Crystal insisted on going to the gym to watch Kine's gym battle.

Kine walked up to the gym, and looked at the entrance. Kine walked in the gym, and the guy at the entrance walked up to her. He blocked her way to get up on the platform. The man had brown short hair and round glasses.

"Hold on there champ!" said the man, "I can't let you go up there just yet."

"Why not?" asked Kine. This was all annoying her; she had to get around the town to try and just find the gym, then backtrack to change clothes, and then walk back and not be allowed to have the gym battle? Forget that.

"This is too damn annoying," muttered Kine, "Why can you not let me go up there?" Kine didn't even know what going up there even meant.

"There's this thing in Violet City," said the man, "You have to defeat all the elders in Sprout Tower to be able to challenge this gym."

Shit. Kine pinched the bridge of her nose. Were all of the gyms going to be this annoying?

"So I just have to go to Sprout Tower and beat up some old guys?" asked Kine. The man with glasses smiled nervously. Kine's appearance usually did that to people.

"Well, I guess you could put it that way..." said the man, "But yes, you just have to beat them all in Pokemon battles."

Kine walked out of the gym, and Crystal hurried after her. "Hey wait!" yelled Crystal, "Slow down! You're going too fast! I can't keep up!"

"No one told you to wear heels," grumbled Kine.

"Vul."

"Chika."

Crystal muttered something but Kine could not hear it. Kine just shrugged it off and kept walking toward Sprout Tower. While the little group was walking, Ruva decided to ask Fia a question. _"Hey Fia?"_

 _"Yeah?"_

 _"Why do you think our trainer used a fake name?"_

Fia looked up. She had never really questioned it, she just went along with what Kine had to say. Was that a bad thing? Just going along with what her trainer had to say or do like a mindless slave? Was Fia supposed to act differently, or was she supposed to be the way she was; just following Kine. The shiny concluded that whatever her trainer did, it was for a good reason.

 _"I don't know Ruva,"_ answered the vulpix, _"But I think there's a good reason behind it. At least she's not too crazy about getting those stupid badges."_

 _"What's so bad about that?"_ asked Ruva, _"It's a lot of fun to battle."_

Fia rolled her eyes. _"Fun battling may be all that you've known, but it's so much different out in the wild. Out there, you risk your life every single time you see another pokemon."_

Ruva just looked at Fia. The little chikorita had no idea what to say. All she had known was the simple life inside the Pokemon Lab. No worries about fighting for her life, she'd never have to worry about survival. Ruva looked back up at Fia. _"Sorry Fia,"_ she said. The vulpix looked back down at her and smiled. What was said didn't bother Fia, what else was to be expected of a starter pokemon raised in a lab?

Crystal had finally caught up to Kine. "Don't you wish you could understand them?" she asked. Kine just slightly nodded in response, which bothered Crystal. "You know," said Crystal, "For your age, you're not very talkative. And you look like you hate everything. That stoic expression is really annoying, did you know that? And you should really respond with words once in while."

"And you should stop rambling," grumbled Kine. They had finally gotten to Sprout Tower. Crystal looked at Kine. "Let's go inside," she said.

Sprout Tower was a tall, three story building. It was made of wood, and there was a tall pillar in the middle of the entire structure holding it up. The big beam in the middle was moving constantly, and it made the building feel more unstable than stable. Many people were inside the first floor, just looking around. Crystal looked around in awe. She was so impressed by the huge structure. Crystal had seen many pictures of Sprout Tower when she was looking at important landmarks in Johto. Kine's expression, as usual, was stoic. It looked like she was unimpressed by everything in the building. Kine was just there to be able to challenge the gym. Although Kine was not very interested in fighting all of the gyms, she was interested in doing something with her life after all the craziness that had happened.

"How are you not impressed by all of this?!" exclaimed Crystal, "It's amazing!"

Kine just shrugged. She just really didn't care. "I do not have interest in a building," answered Kine.

"Vul vul."

"Chika."

Kine walked around and noticed that the beam in the center was shaking ever so slightly. Crystal noticed what the assassin was looking at, and decided to show off her superior knowledge of the building. "That beam shakes because of all the people training upstairs. Legend says that the center beam was once a gigantic bellsprout. Interesting, huh Em?"

"Yeah."

Crystal smiled. She was finally getting Kine to talk to her.

Kine was about to go up onto the second floor, when one of the sages stopped her. "Not so fast, young lady," he said, "If you want to move on to the next floor, you will have to beat me in a pokemon battle. Go! Bell!"

The sage sent out his bellsprout. Kine glanced at Fia, and Fia jumped down from Kine's shoulder, and was ready to fight. "Bell use Vine Whip!"

Vines extended from the pokemon and were aimed at Fia. The grass type move hit Fia, and it barely hurt her. Fia just shook it off and got ready to attack. "Use Heat Wave," said Kine. Fia nodded and used the super effective fire type attack on the grass type bellsprout. It knocked out the bellsprout and made it faint. The sage looked at his bellsprout in shock. He then smiled. "I'm not done yet! Go!"

The sage sent out another bellsprout, and Fia defeated it in the same manner. Fia just had to use Heat Wave again, and it was simple to knock out the bellsprout yet again. The sage sent out yet another bellsprout, and Fia defeated it with ease. The sage that had challenged Kine sighed. "I suppose you win," he said. The sage handed Kine her prize money, and she was allowed to move on to the next floor. Once she had gotten up to the second floor, another sage stopped her immediately. He challenged her to a battle. He sent out a bellsprout, and Kine had Fia defeat his bellsprout, and the rest of his team. During the battle, Kine had her hands behind her head. She was really getting bored of all the bellsprout. It was just bellsprout, bellsprout, and more bellsprout.

Kine defeated the first sage on the second floor, and then moved on to the second and last sage on the second floor. Kine yawned on the way. She was really getting bored of all these bellsprout. That was all she ran into in this tower, but what else should she have expected. The place's name _was_ Sprout Tower after all. Kine finally got up onto the last floor, and Crystal obviously looked like she was tired. Kine sighed. "Sit down. You need a break."

Crystal was breathing heavily, but she refused to sit down. "I'm... fine," she said in between breaths. Kine sighed. Crystal looked like she was going to fall over. Kine was about to just turn around and ignore it, but it _was_ her job to be Crystal's protector. She walked closer to Crystal, and stared her down. Crystal took a step back, and looked just the tiniest bit scared of Kine. Kine glared at Crystal. "I have to protect you, so sit. Down. Now." As Kine said that, she pointed to the ground. Crystal didn't believe what she was seeing. The girl in front of her was telling her to sit, just how someone would tell a dog to sit. Crystal glared at Kine. The former assassin was not intimidated in the slightest.

"How dare you," said Crystal, "Do _not_ treat me like a dog."

Kine smirked. "So you finally decide to stand up for yourself," she said in an amused tone. Crystal was surprised from the tone in Kine's voice. She ended up sitting down from it. "You mean to tell me that you think I'm just a toy?"

Kine shrugged. "Hm... it is interesting that you put it that way," said Kine. She was about to continue, but then looked down at Crystal. "Time to go now. Are you finally ready?"

Crystal's jaw dropped and she just looked at Kine. "That was barely any time at all!"

Kine looked away. "Just get up. We should keep going before it gets too late."

Kine started walking away, and Crystal scrambled to get back up and follow Kine. Crystal followed Kine and watched all of her battles with the sages. Kine fought two more sages with teams of three bellsprouts, and then she fought one sage with a team made up of a bellsprout and a hoothoot. They were both no problem for Fia, although the hoothoot was something different. Fia had no problem torching it, and anything else in her way. Kine finally made it to the last sage. He was a lot different than the rest of the sages. The last sage looked a lot older than the rest of them, and he had a more facial hair. He had a pure white mustache, and bushy pure white eyebrows. He was wearing a purple kimono with a thick yellow sash over it.

"Young lady, I am the last sage in this tower. I am Elder Li, and I challenge you to your last pokemon battle in this tower. I will test the bonds between you and your pokemon in our battle, and decide if you are fit to challenge the gym leader of Violet City."

Kine nodded, and Elder Li sent out a bellsprout. "Go Root!"

The trainer looked down at her vulpix, and Fia jumped out in front of Kine. "Heat Wave."

Fia used her super effective fire type move. It headed toward the bellsprout. Right as it was going to hit the other pokemon, Elder Li smirked, which surprised Kine. Normally, if your pokemon was going to be taken out, you would not be smirking like that. It looked like Elder Li had something else up his sleeve. All the old man said was, "Root."

That was it.

All he had to do was call out the name of his pokemon, and it responded right away. It jumped out of the way, and Fia's attack missed. Fia took a step back in shock. The little vulpix could not believe that her attack had missed. That had never happened before! Fia looked like she was freaking out. Ruva saw this and cried out.

 _"Don't worry about it Fia! You can do this!"_

Kine said something along the same lines, "Calm down you idiot. You will get him on the next attack. So stop freaking out, and pay attention to the battle."

Crystal and Elder Li looked at Kine in shock. Neither of them had heard a trainer call their pokemon an idiot like that. Well, not in person at least. Kine didn't mean anything by calling her pokemon an idiot; she just figured that it would get Fia's attention faster and more efficiently. Fia turned back and looked at Kine in shock. She could not believe that her trainer called her an idiot. Although, it was a little true at the moment. It certainly did get her to snap out of it.

"...Vul."

Fia smiled and nodded to Kine. "Root use Vine Whip!" exclaimed the elder. Two vines came out from the bellsprout, and went toward Fia. It hit Fia, and didn't even leave a scratch. Fia smirked, and so did Kine. "Use Heat Wave again."

Fia nodded and used the move on the bellsprout. The extremely hot breath that went toward Root came at it faster then the tim before. It hit Root and made it faint right away. Fia smiled and cried out happily. Elder Li sent out his next pokemon, which of course, was another bellsprout. Before Elder Li could say anything, Kine said, "Fia, use Heat Wave!"

The ideas was to catch them off guard, and defeat the elder's pokemon quickly. Fia's attack hit the elder's bellsprout and knocked it out. Kine smiled and put her hands in her pockets. "Come on old man, bring out your last pokemon already."

A little rude, yes, but Kine was getting tired. She didn't want to lay her eyes on another bellsprout, and she just wanted to go to sleep as well. What could she say? She hadn't exactly been doing work during the day in her old life. Kine wanted nothing more than to just get out of the tower as soon as she could.

Elder Li looked like he was shocked at Kine's attitude. He took out his last pokemon, and he sent out a hoothoot. "Go Aria!"

"Hooooot!"

"Aria, use Hypnosis!"

"Fia dodge then use Heat Wave!"

Fia successfully dodged the attack and used Heat Wave on Aria. Fia's attack hit the hoothoot, but didn't knock it out. Not yet at least. "Aria use Peck!" said the elder.

"Fia dodge!"

Fia tried to jump out of the way, but wasn't fast enough. She was hit by the flying type attack, and was blown back. The vulpix got up and looked back to her trainer. Kine looked in approval at Fia, then said, "Heat Wave once more!"

Fia used Heat Wave, and it hit the hoothoot. This time, the attack knocked out the opposing pokemon. Once Aria was defeated, Fia ran up to Kine and jumped into her arms. Kine pet Fia while still having a stoic expression.

"Vul!"

Elder Li sighed and returned his hoothoot. Once that was done, he looked over at Kine.

"Though your methods are strange, you really do care for your pokemon. You are strong enough to battle the gym leader of Violet City."

Fia and Ruva were overjoyed to hear that. They both smiled and cried out. Kine was relieved, though she never wanted to see another bellsprout ever again. Kine nodded to Elder Li, and then left with Crystal to go to challenge the Violet City gym.

* * *

 **In the next chapter, Kine will finally be challenging the gym! Isn't that great? You guys also found out why Crystal hired Kine, though I would say it's a little mysterious. You'll just have to find out later ;) As usual, the update for this chapter took longer than expected, so sorry about that. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'll see you in the next one.**


	6. First Gym

Kine, her pokemon, and Crystal walked out of Sprout Tower and toward the gym. This time, Kine actually looked like she was doing her job. She followed Crystal around, and looked for any potential threats around them. Why the change of character? Crystal threatened to deduct from Kine's pay.

Crystal walked happily, since she had figured out what to do to get Kine to work. Their little group arrived at the gym. The man from earlier was there as well.

"Hey," he said, "Looks like you defeated all of the elders at Sprout Tower. You are now allowed to challenge Falkner."

Kine smirked, and she nodded. The man stepped aside, and Kine was able to step onto the platform. Fia and Ruva followed Kine, while Crystal was led to a different area to watch the battle. The Violet City gym leader was a guy with blue hair and blue eyes. He was wearing blue clothes as well. A pidgey was perched on his shoulder, and a pidgeotto was standing behind him. Falkner smirked as he watched Kine walk up to him. She had defeated the two gym trainers with ease.

"So I see you've defeated all of the sages at Sprout Tower," said Falkner, "That's a nice vulpix you've got there." Kine looked away.

"Yeah whatever."

Falkner spread his arms wide, and both of his pokemon flew up into the air. "As you know, I'm Falkner, the Violet City Pokémon Gym Leader! People say you can clip Flying-type Pokémon's wings with a jolt of electricity... I won't allow such insults to bird Pokémon! I'll show you the real power of the magnificent bird Pokémon! Go Feather!"

The pidgey flew down onto the battlefield. "Pidge!"

Kine looked down at Fia and smirked. Fia ran in front of Kine, and she cried out.

"Vul!"

Falkner smirked. "The challenger can have the first move."

"I wasn't planning on letting you go first either way," said Kine, "Fia, Heat Wave!"

Fia used the move on Feather. "Dodge!" yelled Falkner. The damn bird flew out of the way, and successfully dodged Fia's attack. However, unlike last time, Fia didn't freak out. Kine nodded slightly. She was proud of her shiny.

"Again!" said Kine. Fia nodded, and she used Heat Wave again. This time, it hit the pidgey and almost knocked it out. Falkner smirked. "Feather, use Tackle!"

The bird flew at Fia and tackled her. Fia was knocked back. The attack did some damage to her. Nonetheless, Fia got up and was ready for another attack. "Extrasensory." said Kine. Fia looked at her trainer in surprise. For all the recent battles, Fia had only been told to use Heat Wave over and over again. Fia was glad for the change. She smiled and used Extrasensory. They psychic attack hit the pidgey and knocked it out. Falkner smiled.

"Alright then. Sirocco, it's your turn!"

The pidgeotto flew down and landed in front of Falkner, just like his pidgey had. "Sirocco, use Gust!"

The bird used Gust, and wind started surrounding Fia. She was blown back and hit one of the walls in the gym. Fia fell and slowly got back up. Kine stiffened and said, "Heat Wave."

Fia got up, and used the move on Sirocco. The fire type attack hit the pidgeotto and took away half of its health. Falkner smirked. "Sirocco, use Roost!"

The pidgeotto was able to heal itself using that move. It had healed all the damage that Fia had done to him. Kine crossed her arms and looked at Fia. Her vulpix looked back at her trainer, and smiled. "Heat Wave," said Kine. Fia nodded, and she used the move on Sirocco. The move still did half damage, and Falkner commanded Sirocco to use Roost yet again.

"Damn," muttered Kine. She looked out to her vulpix and got ready to plug her ears. "Fia," said Kine, "Use Roar."

Fia looked at her trainer in shock, but used the move anyway. Kine plugged her ears, while Falkner and Sirocco were suffering from the loud roar. "Ok Fia!" shouted Kine, "Use Extrasensory, then Heat Wave!"

Fia used the two moves in succession, while her opponent was still recovering from Roar. The two moves were able to knock out Sirocco, and defeat Falkner's last pokemon. Fia was breathing heavily, and Kine was holding her head.

"Too loud," muttered Kine, "Too fucking loud."

Falkner smirked and returned Sirocco to its pokeball. He then walked over to Kine holding a badge. "This is the Zephyr Badge. You've done well to earn it," he said, "Congratulations on beating me. As for your next move, I would recommend the gym in Azalea. Good luck in completing the first step in the Pokemon Gym Challenge."

Kine nodded. "Thanks."

Crystal ran down from the stands to congratulate Kine. Once she was down, she jumped on Kine and gave her a hug. "OH MY GOSH THAT WAS AMAZING!" she yelled, "Your pokemon were awesome!"

Kine was tense, and looked like she was ready to tear Crystal to shreds. In a scarily calm voice, she said, "Get off. Now."

Crystal quickly got off of Kine, and the taller girl exhaled. She didn't like hugs from strangers, or clients. Kine and Crystal walked back to the platform, and out of the gym. Once they were out, Kine looked at Crystal. "Where is your contest?"

Crystal looked at Kine, surprised that she had not asked that question earlier. "It's in Goldenrod City. There's a gym there, and Azalea Town is on the way. No need to worry."

Kine looked up at the sky, and it looked like it was getting late. Crystal looked at Kine. "Let's get a room at the Pokemon Center yeah?"

Kine nodded in response. "Yeah."

They walked to the Pokemon Center, and Nurse Joy was there to greet them. "Hi, welcome to the Pokemon Center. What can I do for you?"

Crystal smiled. "One room please."

Nurse Joy nodded. "Of course. The room is free for five days."

Both girls nodded, and Nurse Joy led them to their room. It was at the end of the hall on the first floor, and it had two beds, against each wall. There was dresser in the middle, as well as some space for Kine's pokemon. Fia and Ruva claimed Kine's bed on the right side of the room by running up and jumping up on it. Crystal sighed and then smiled.

"I guess that's your bed."

"It seems to be that way."

Kine sat on her bed, and Crystal laid down on hers. Crystal then held up three pokeballs, and let her pokemon out. They were an eevee, togepi, and a female pikachu. They all cried out, and jumped up onto Crystal's bed. Crystal started laughing, and pet all of her pokemon. Kine sat there and just watched her, like a stupid idiot. Fia and Ruva just looked at their trainer. After a few moments, Fia decided to lay down on Kine's lap. Kine looked down at Fia, and started petting her. Ruva rubbed her head on Kine's free arm. Kine looked at all of this in disbelief. It was still taking a lot of effort getting used to pokemon not attacking her.

Kine stopped petting Fia, and put her right hand on the hilt of one of her blades. Crystal looked at Kine in curiosity.

"So what do you use those for?" asked Crystal.

"Nothing at the moment," responded Kine.

"Well duh," said Crystal, "I mean, what do you usually use them for?"

Kine hesitated. "I do not think you would like the reason."

Crystal looked at her togepi. "Oh yeah, and why do you talk like that? All proper and stuff."

Kine looked at Crystal in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Crystal sighed in frustration. "You never say _don't_ or _that's._ Stuff like that. You don't use conjunctions. Why not?"

Kine did't exactly know how to respond. "That is how people usually talk, is it not?"

Crystal sighed yet again. "No, it isn't. I mean, have you heard at least one person besides you talk like that recently? Maybe in medieval times, but not now."

"Then how should I speak?"

"Well, _that_ and _is_ make _that's_. _Do_ and _not_ make _don't._ And so on."

The rest of the night was spent with Kine being forced to learn about how to speak differently.

* * *

The next morning, Kine was woken up by Crystal, her pokemon, Fia, and Ruva. Kine was still getting used to being woken up so early in the morning, so you could say she wasn't that happy. Kine glared at all of them, and all of them took a few steps back. Kine sat up and rubbed her head. It looked like Crystal was already ready to leave, and she couldn't wait any longer.

Kine slowly got up, and she slowly got ready to leave. The entire time, Crystal was trying to make Kine move faster. Once Kine was dressed in the clothes that Crystal had provided, she set out for Azalea Town.

The two of them walked out of Violet City, and saw a sign that read "Route 32". They walked through the route, and surprisingly did not see a lot of pokemon. Soon, they were toward the end of the route, and about to enter the Union Cave, when a guy challenged Kine to a battle. He called himself a bird catcher, and his first pokemon was a pidgey. Kine looked down at Fia; she nodded and jumped out in front of her trainer.

"Extrasensory," said Kine. Fia used the move, and one-shot the pidgey before it could make a move, and before its trainer could react.

"Shoot," said the bird catcher, "Fine, my next pokemon, go!"

The boy's next pokemon was another pidgey. "Use Tackle!"

"Dodge then use Heat Wave!"

Fia jumped out of the way of the pidgey's attack, and then successfully used Heat Wave. She knocked out that pidgey as well, and the boy got even more frustrated. He sent out his last pokemon, which was a Spearow. Fia defeated the bird with ease, as she did the other two. The bird catcher sighed, and accepted his loss. He gave Kine her prize money, then she and Crystal walked into the Union Cave.

Crystal smiled. "It's so fun to watch you battle, Em," she said, "You look like you're so good at it, but you're just a beginner right?"

Kine nodded. Crystal then put a finger on her chin. "Hey so why did you start your journey so late?"

Kine didn't answer. "That's none of your business. We're not here to get to know each other."

"That's not nice! And even after I helped you talk like a normal person! You're so rude."

"Tch. Whatever."

A hiker approached Kine. "I challenge you to a battle!" he said. Kine nodded. "Bring it on."

The hiker sent out a geodude, making Fia back away. Kine looked down at Ruva, who looked like she was ready to go. Kine nodded, and Ruva jumped out in front.

"Ruva, use Tackle," said Kine. Ruva nodded, and she ran at the geodude. The geodude was hit, and although the move wasn't very effective, it almost knocked it out. "Geo, use Tackle!" said the hiker.

"Dodge," said Kine. Ruva jumped out of the way, and was able to avoid Geo's attack. "Tackle," said Kine. Ruva did as she was told, and used the move to knock out Geo. The hiker sighed, and then sent out another geodude. Before Kine could tell Ruva to use a move, Ruva shot out sharpened leaves toward the geodude. The super-effective grass type move knocked out the geodude in one hit. Fia congratulated Ruva on learning a new move as Kine took out her pokedex. It showed that Ruva had learned a new move, which was Razor Leaf.

"Good work Ruva," said Kine.

"Chika!"

"Pff. Whatever," said the hiker as he sent out his last geodude.

"Razor Leaf," said Kine. Ruva nodded, and she attacked with the leaves. It knocked out the hiker's last geodude, and he sighed in defeat. He handed Kine her prize money and walked away, most likely to go to a Pokemon Center to heal his pokemon.

Kine and Crystal kept walking through the cave, and to the next town. Kine had Ruva battle a few geodude that were blocking their way, but it was mainly just to clear them away, not exactly kill them. After much walking, they made it out of the cave. Crystal was breathing heavily, as she was still wearing heels to go everywhere. Outside of the cave, it was raining, and Kine used her mini jacket to cover her hair. Kine, on the other hand, ignored the rain and let herself get wet. Crystal started running, although she was exhausted.

"Come on Em!" she said, "We need to get out of this rain!"

Kine started running, with Ruva and Fia on either side of her. They made it to Azalea Town, and the rain just suddenly stopped.

 _The weather is strange here,_ thought Kine. She looked back out to the route, and it was still raining there. Kine looked at the route in disbelief. "The hell...?"

Crystal looked back out to the route as well. Unlike Kine, Crystal just shrugged it off. Crystal was then forced to drag Kine away from the route and further into the town, since Kine was still in disbelief. It was proving harder than Crystal expected. Fortunately, she had Fia and Ruva to help pull Kine away. Soon, they were all sitting on a bench in the town. Kine had finally recovered from the weird weather, though it had not taken too long.

Crystal's stomach growled, and she laughed nervously. "Ehehehe, let's go get some lunch yeah?"

Kine nodded, and they walked into the first place Crystal deemed acceptable. After lunch, they walked out, and Crystal looked at Kine. "Let's go so you can challenge the gym!"

Kine shook her head. Crystal looked confused. "Why not? I want to see another one of your gym battles!"

Kine frowned. "I can't just go in blind," she said, "We need training. I thought you would understand that."

Crystal pouted. "Fine Em. You can train for a little bit, then I'm ordering you to challenge the gym!"

Kine glared at Crystal, but then stopped, since this was her job after all. She had to keep Crystal safe, and pretty much had to do what she was told. As much as it annoyed Kine, the pay was good, in addition to all the money she was getting from battling. She was going to be set after this job was done. Kine was grinning to herself, and Crystal was forced to wonder what Kine, or Emlyn, was thinking.

"Hey Em, what are you thinking about?" asked Crystal.

"Hm? Nothing."

Crystal pouted. "Fine. Don't tell me."

Kine grinned and kept following Crystal. They went to the rainy route, but this time, Crystal had an umbrella and Kine had a raincoat with the hood pulled up. Kine looked down at Ruva, and she jumped out. Kine looked down at Ruva, and Ruva jumped out in front of Kine.

Kine pointed to a rock. "Ruva, use Razor Leaf on that rock over there."

"Chika!"

Ruva made the leaves fly out toward the rock, and she was able to slice it up into small pieces. Kine nodded in approval, and then pointed to a tree. "Do the same thing to the tree."

Ruva nodded, and she made the leaves fly toward the tree. The tree ended up with a lot of scratches, and deep cuts. However, it wasn't enough to make the tree fall over, which was a good thing. Kine didn't want wild pokemon angry, and ready to kill her. Kine sighed in relief. It would have been difficult to protect herself, and Crystal from wild pokemon.

Kine kept training Ruva, and then she trained Fia. Once her two pokemon were out of breath, Kine told them to take a break. Fia and Ruva sat down, and Kine shifted her attention to Crystal. The Pokemon Coordinator didn't look bored at all; instead, she looked like she was upset that the training was put on hold. Kine looked at Crystal, and just had to think about pokemon contests. What were they even all about?

"What do you do in one of your contests?" asked Kine.

"You don't know what a pokemon contest is?!"

"No."

"Alright fine, I'll tell you about it. In a pokemon contest, there are two rounds. The first one is where your pokemon judged on their condition. The audience votes on the pokemon that looks the coolest, most beautiful, cutest, most clever, or toughest, depending on the category of the contest. Condition stats that are liked by the audience and the pokemon's overall appearance are a huge factor in the votes. The second round in the contest is where you show off your pokemon's best moves. This is called appealing to the judges, and your pokemon's moves can be used to make the other pokemon nervous, boost the popularity of your pokemon, and so forth. After that, there's the judging process, and then the winner is announced."

"I see."

"Mhm. There are also different classes or ranks; four to be precise. They are Normal, Super, Hyper, and Master. I'll be competing in the Hyper Rank. I need to win one more time, and then I can compete in the Master Rank."

"How do you train?"

Crystal just smirked. "I'll just show you."

She let out her eevee, togepi, and pikachu. "Alright Amethyst use Helping Hand! Kepi, use Electro Ball!"

Crystal's eevee used Helping Hand, and her pikachu used Electro Ball. The Electro Ball went up into the sky, the exploded, making what looked to be electrical dust rain down from the sky. Kind of like fireworks. Fia and Ruva looked at it in awe, and surprisingly, so did Kine. Once Crystal was finished showing off her pokemon, she smirked.

"We just do stuff like that to train," said Crystal. Oh how she loved seeing Kine's limited emotions.

Kine looked down at her pokemon. "Break's over. Get up. Fia, go ahead and use Heat Wave in the direction in front of you."

Fia nodded and did so. There were no trees in the area Fia used her move, so nothing really caught on fire. But, even if something did catch on fire, the rain would douse it right away. "Good. Now use Extrasensory."

Fia used the move, and then was told to use Hex. She was not, however, told to use Roar. Kine just could not deal with that at the moment. It was too loud, and then always caused her to have a headache. When Fia was done going over all of her moves. Kine started to train Ruva. Ruva used Razor Leaf a lot more, and then she learned Poison Powder. After Ruva was done with her training, she was jumping around, and almost poisoned Kine. Luckily, Kine got out of the way just in time.

"So I guess you learned a new move," said Kine. Ruva nodded sheepishly. "Chika."

Kine crossed her arms. "Alright, so use Poison Powder over that way. Right in front of you."

The purple powder came out of the buds around Ruva's neck, and surrounded the area in front of her. No wild pokemon were there, so there was really no danger. Kine nodded in approval. "Good job. Fia, now it's your turn. Use Heat Wave."

Fia nodded and used the fire type move. The tips of the blades of grass were singed, but other than that, there was no real issue. After their training ended it was pretty dark, and time to go into the Pokemon Center to get some rest.

By the end of their training, Fia had the moves Heat Wave, Quick Attack, Hex, and Fire Spin; Ruva had the moves Tackle, Razor Leaf, Poison Powder, and Synthesis.

Crystal yawned. "Are you going to challenge the gym tomorrow?"

Kine nodded. "Yes."

"Woohoo! I can't wait to see another one of your gym battles!"

Kine sighed. "You're such a child."

"What was that?!"

"You heard me."

"Vul."

"Chika."

* * *

 **What? A chapter that didn't take an eternity to get out? Whaaaaat? XD Ok so I actually had time to write this time around. The gym battle was in this chapter, and there's going to be another one next chapter! Moving a little too fast for you? Too bad. It'll slow down soon.**

 **And does anyone else just find it strange that Route 33's just always raining in the game? Its like you walk into Azalea Town, and all the rain is gone; then you take one step back into the route, and its pouring again. I never really worried about that playing the game, but recently I was replaying it, and I just started thinking about it ehehe...**

 **So I can't believe I didn't put this in the last chapter, but yoooooo Pokemon GO is out! So you all know, I'm Team Mystic. Let's go Team Blue! *thumbs up* The only bad thing is that I can't get a vulpix for the life of me. :**(**

 **Ok so anyways, this'll probably be the longest A/N thingy you'll see in this fanfic, but who knows. I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!**


	7. Second Badge and Forest of Misfortune

The next morning, Kine was forced to wake up by Crystal. No matter how many times she tried to scare that girl, it would happen, then Crystal would act like everything was normal.

"Come on Em!" said Crystal, "You're going to challenge the gym today right?"

Kine slowly got up and yawned. She glared at Crystal briefly, and then nodded. Crystal was ecstatic - she couldn't wait to see another gym battle. Kine got dressed and then walked out of the room with her pokemon and Crystal. They ate breakfast down in the food court type area. Crystal definitely ate faster than Kine, and was trying to get Kine to eat faster as well. To Crystal's disappointment, Kine ate much slower whenever Crystal bugged her to eat faster.

When Kine was finally done, they walked out of the Pokemon Center, and towards the gym in Azalea. Once they stepped inside, Kine looked around.

 _So this is a bug type gym? Fia will fair wonderfully._

Fia seemed to understand this as well. She smirked, was a lot more excited than Ruva. The chikorita, yet again, was at a disadvantage in the gym. She went inside her pokeball so she could hide away from all the bug types there. Kine sighed at her pokemon's antics. When Kine and Crystal walked inside, there were a bunch of little rides that looked like bugs. When someone gets on the bug, they are taken across a web of different ropes.

Kine got on three bugs, each having a different puzzle to solve so she could get to the gym leader. After fighting many gym trainers, Kine was finally at the gym leader.

The gym leader of the Azalea gym was dressed in bug catcher clothes that were mainly green, a yellow tie, had purple hair, and was also armed with a net to catch bugs. He had a kakuna, a metapod, and a scyther with him. A lot more bug pokemon were hiding in the trees, and were ready to watch their battle.

"Welcome," said the gym leader, "I'm Bugsy! I never lose when it comes to Bug-type Pokémon. My research is going to make me an authority on Bug-type Pokémon! Let me demonstrate what I've learned from my studies. Let's do this Kaku!"

Bugsy's kakuna jumped forward. "Kak!"

Kine looked down at Fia, and the vulpix jumped forward.

"I'll be nice," said Bugsy, "You can have the first move."

Kine nodded. "Fia, Fire Spin."

Fia nodded, and she exhaled fire which extended out in a circle toward Kakuna. The bug type pokemon was hit by the fire, and it resulted in a one shot for Fia. His first pokemon was gone, but Bugsy was still grinning. It unnerved Kine just a bit.

"Ok," he said looking at his metapod, "Quaz, it looks like it's your turn."

"Meta."

The metapod took a few small jumps to get to the arena. Kine almost burst out laughing. The bug was so slow! Fia almost started laughing as well - you could tell that the vulpix was struggling with it though. One look from Kine, and Fia knew what she was supposed to do. Before Bugsy, or his metapod, could react, Fia used Fire Spin again, successfully knocking out Quaz.

Bugsy sighed. It looked like Kine was getting to him. The lavender haired gym leader sent out his last pokemon - his ace. "Alright Scythe, lets do this. Even though he's my last Pokémon, Bug Pokémon are tough!" said Bugsy. Of course it was a typical name, but he didn't really care. That was what he named his pokemon and that's that.

The scyther that was on the field was flying around, and it was hard for Fia to keep up with it. "Focus Energy!" said Bugsy. Scythe nodded, and a light surrounded him, getting the scyther pumped up.

"Heat Wave!" said Kine. Scythe jumped out of the way of Fia's move, and avoided getting hit by the fire. Fia looked upset, and glared at the bug type speeding around.

"U-Turn!" yelled Bugsy. This move looked like a Quick Attack, but it was kind of different. Scythe was surrounded by a light and flew towards Fia. Kine yelled at Fia to dodge, but the fox was too slow. She got knocked back into the air, and barely managed to land on her feet. More than half of her health was gone, and she was panting.

"Now use Quick Attack while they're down!" yelled Bugsy.

"Fia get up," said Kine, "Block him with Fire Spin."

Fia exhaled the spiral of fire, and hit the scyther while it was coming at her with Quick Attack. Scythe was hit by the flames and fell back. Fia looked confident, like she knew she was going to win the battle.

"Heat Wave!"

Fia used the move, and was able to hit Scythe. The bug was knocked out and Fia won. Fia ran back toward her trainer and jumped into her arms. Kine caught her vulpix, and Bugsy walked up to her.

"Whoa, amazing! You're an expert on pokemon! My research isn't complete yet. Ok, you win. Take this badge. It's called the Hive Badge."

Bugsy handed the Hive Badge to Kine. The badge looked like a bug, obviously, but it kind of looked more like a ladybug. It was a round badge with a small peice of black at the top, and the rest was red. In the red area of the badge, there were three black dots, making it look even more like a ladybug.

"The next city is Goldenrod," said Bugsy, "And the next gym is there as well. Be prepared for Whitney - she's a little... difficult sometimes."

Kine nodded, and walked out of the gym. Once she was out, Crystal jumped on top of her. The coordinator was basically strangling the other girl.

"Let go," said Kine with some difficulty. Crystal immediately let go of her bodyguard and composed herself. "Right, my bad. But that gym battle was awesome!" Crystal started petting Fia. "And you vulpix was amazing! It's surprising though - she's a lot smaller than other vulpix's I've seen. Is she a newborn?"

Kine's eyes widened in realization. She hadn't thought about that, but it's not like she had ever seen a vulpix before she saw Fia. Crystal put her hand under her chin in thought. "I can't believe I didn't notice that earlier. It's kind of obvious. Did you breed her?"

Kine shook her head. "I just... found her. Wait no, she found me."

Crystal looked impressed, but could tell Emlyn was not up for talking more. The duo walked out of the gym, and toward the Pokemon Center. "I guess you want to heal your pokemon, right Em?" asked Crystal. Kine nodded. They ended up in the Pokemon Center, and Nurse Joy greeted them. Kine handed over her pokemon, and they were taken away to get healed. Kine sat in one of the many couches provided, and Crystal followed suit.

After a while, Nurse Joy came and gave Kine back her pokemon. "Thank you for waiting! Your pokemon have been restored to full health. Good luck!"

Kine nodded. "Thanks." Then she turned to Crystal. "We should get going."

Crystal looked at her in shock. "Wait! Isn't it going to be dark soon?!" Kine nodded. "If it gets too dark, we can just camp out."

Crystal shook her head. "Nuh uh. I do _not_ do outdoors." Kine sighed. "I'll rent you a tent."

"No."

"We're going to camp."

"I won't do it."

Kine glared at the stubborn performer. Crystal seemed to shrink back and grow smaller. "Alright fine," said Crystal, "But you're buying the tent. And I get to pick which one."

Kine nodded. "Alright fine. Let's just go."

The two walked out of the Pokemon Center, and went to a different place to rent a tent. "What?!" exclaimed Crystal, "You're all out?!"

The clerk nodded. "Sorry; I'm afraid we don't have any more tents available. We do have many sleeping bags though." Crystal sighed. "I guess that'll do. Could you show me which ones you have?" He nodded again. "Of course, come this way."

Crystal ended up picking a dark purple sleeping bag that was sort of simple. The price wasn't simple. Kine almost choked when she saw the price tag. She had never seen a price for just a sleeping bag be that high. "That's just for a rental?!"

The clerk shook his head. "Unfortunately, our sleeping bags are not for rental. You actually have to buy these."

Kine sighed. "Alright fine." She quickly payed for it, and left with Crystal. Kine was grumbling the entire time. Although she would get money from this job with Crystal, she hated being almost broke as she was at the moment. Her wallet was complaining as well. Kine hadn't bought a sleeping bag for herself, seeing as the prices were so high. She also had to make sure she had enough money for food during their trip to the next town. They had to go through a forest after all. Kine quickly stopped by to get some food for their little trip, and then they were off.

The duo walked out of Azalea Town, and into the Ilex Forest. This might actually take them a few days to get through. Kine was glad she decided to buy some food, and water of course. She walked into the dense forest with Crystal.

Once they had entered the forest, it had gotten noticeably darker. Crystal looked a little worried, but being in the forest didn't bother Kine. She had been in places that were a lot worse. After only ten minutes of walking, Crystal was complaining.

"We've been walking too long! Can we take a break?"

Kine stopped walking. "You're in charge, not me." After saying that, she sat down. Crystal collapsed on the ground.

"How long have we been walking?" asked Crystal. Kine looked down at her nonexistent watch. "About ten minutes."

"Just ten minutes?!"

"Mmhm."

"That's impossible!"

"And yet it's true."

Crystal pouted. "You're being really difficult right now."

"It's not my fault you want to take a break."

"I can't believe you had to be picked for this," grumbled Crystal. Kine looked at the coordinator. "What was that?"

"Oh nothing."

Kine raised an eyebrow, then shrugged it off. Fia was Kine's only pokemon out; Ruva still wanted to be in her pokeball for some reason. The vulpix sat down next to her trainer, and started grooming herself. Kine put her right hand on one of her blades. It reminded her of her life before everything went to shit.

After a while, Crystal got up. "Ok, let's keep going."

Kine nodded and got up as well. They kept walking through the forest until they were at a crossroads. Crystal decided to go to the right, and of course, Kine followed. They walked further, and ran into a few wild pokemon. Fia dealt with them all quickly and efficiently, since they were mainly bug and grass types. Kine and Crystal walked around until it was pretty dark. They set up camp right next to a tree, and Crystal put down her sleeping bag. Kine gathered a few fallen branches, twigs, and dead leaves. She put them down, and then commanded Fia to light it on fire. Fia did so, and now they had some light in the extremely dark forest. Crystal let out her own pokemon. The pikachu, eevee, and togepi cried out happily. Kine decided to let out Ruva as well. She felt like something was going to happen soon.

Crystal laid down in her sleeping bag. She started dozing off. _Looks like I'm taking the first watch,_ thought Kine. Crystal started sleeping, and her pokemon looked really sleepy too. Kine could not figure out why. It wasn't like Crystal's pokemon had done anything. Kine and Fia were the ones that had done all the work. Kine starred up into the sky, and looked at the stars.

Kine looked to the right as a twig snapped.

A group of people came out from behind bushes all around the little camp Kine and Crystal had made. _Have they been watching us the entire time?_ thought Kine.

Each man had a gun, and they were all pointed toward Crystal. Well, some were pointed at Kine. Kine took her blades out in blinding speed. She held them with the blades pointed toward her elbows. A few of the men were intimidated, but the rest just started laughing.

"You really think you can hurt us with some _sticks?_ "

They all kept laughing. _Incompetent fools who can't keep their shit together. This will work in my favor,_ thought Kine.

One guy shot at Kine. Kine just held her left blade out, and cut the bullet in half. All the men surrounding her looked at her in shock. They had never seen something like that happen before. A few of the men backed up, but their leader still stood confident.

"That was just one bullet!" he said, trying to rally up his men, "She can't do it again."

Another guy shot at Kine, but she couldn't block it in time. The bullet hit Kine in the upper part of her left arm, close to her shoulder. It was going to be useless for a while again. The universe just always has a way to fuck with her. Kine could barely hold onto her left blade. Movement in that arm would not be a good idea. The group's leader looked more confident. "See? She just got lucky."

Kine heard a dagger being unsheathed, and dodged the attack of the guy coming after her. Kine quickly cut the guy in half with her good arm, separating his torso from his legs. Blood sprayed everywhere, staining the grass — and Kine's clothes — red. The guy yelled in agony right before he died. Kill first, ask questions later. Or never; really depends on the situation.

She could immediately tell that some of the guys were ready to lose it completely. Hadn't they seen someone die before them yet?

"Emlyn?" asked Crystal groggily, having just been woken up, "What's going on?"

Crystal had a look of horror as she noticed the blood and corpse on the ground, as well as the blood all over Kine. She noticed that her bodyguard could barely hold whatever was in her hand. _Did she get injured?_ wondered Crystal. The coordinator saw the group of men surrounding them, and seemed to recognize them. Crystal saw the blood on Kine's blades and paled a bit. Another guy shot at Kine. His torso was then removed from his legs. Kine's eyes were cold—she looked muderous.

There were more screams of agony, and soon all the men were dead. Crystal just looked at Kine in shock. She had killed around six fully grown men all on her lonesome. Bodies and intestines littered the once green grass.

Kine flicked the blood of her right blade then got up facing Crystal. It wasn't like she could really do anything with her left arm. "We should go. Someone probably heard them."

"Wait hold on! You got hurt didn't you? You need to get help!"

"I am fine," said Kine. All she really needed to do was stop the bleeding. She ripped off her sleeve and wrapped it around to bullet wound. Sure, it stung, but it would not kill her. Wait no, maybe. It could possibly kill her if it got infected. The downside was that there was not a hospital until the next town, and she didn't know how long it would take them to get out of the forest. That just meant they would have to get through that much faster.

Crystal nodded, still a little groggy, and packed up her sleeping bag. They decided to keep moving, so they could get to the next town faster and treat Kine's wound.

* * *

As soon as the screams and gunshots were heard, some Pokemon Rangers rushed to the area. They all held flashlights, and were accompanied by politoed, sandslash, and ampharos. The ampharos was also lighting the way with its tail. One of the ranger's nose shriveled up.

"What's that smell?" she asked, "It's horrible!"

"Poli," agreed her politoed.

A male ranger pointed to a different area. "Over there," he told his ampharos. His pokemon shined its light over in the same direction as its trainer.

"Pharooooos." Their collective lights shined over the corpses. The three rangers gasped. The sight was gruesome. Blood coated the once green grass, as well as some of the surrounding trees. Intestines had spilled out of the bodies they were once connected to. There were six torsos of men on the ground, some of them piled on top of each other. The faces of the dead had looks of shock and agony, but mainly agony. Some of their faces were even covered in their own blood. Whoever did this was skilled, but not in a good way.

"Holy shit," said the one with the sandslash.

"So that's what we heard," said the one with the ampharos, "I didn't know it would be this bad."

"That means we have to report it right?" asked the girl with the politoed. She was the newbie of the group, and it was obvious to anyone that looked at her. She was not as experienced as the other two rangers. The ranger with the sandslash nodded, and looked to the girl with the politoed.

"You go and report it; we'll keep going to try and find who did it."

The female ranger left with her politoed, and the other two continued forward. They tried to find anything that would relate to the deaths of those six men. They didn't even find a simple trail of blood. The Rangers were getting even more worried by the minute. If whoever did this stayed on the loose, then they were all in some extremely deep shit.

* * *

The next morning, Crystal woke up and saw Kine a wreck. Crystal had almost forgotten about what happened the night before. Almost. What she could remember from her drowsy state was that some people were threatening them, and Kine took them all out. And that Kine got shot. However, the coordinator could not remember when they stopped to get some rest.

Kine got up once she noticed that Crystal was awake.

"W-where are you going?" asked Crystal.

"Isn't there a river or lake nearby?" asked Kine, "I do not wish to walk around coated in dry blood all day."

"Oh."

Kine started walking off. "Don't go anywhere while I'm gone. And if something happens, just call out — I'll get back he quickly."

Crystal nodded, content with her instructions. Just before Kine out of earshot, she said, "And you need to buy me some more clothes. I pick this time."

Crystal groaned in response.

Kine cleaned herself off at the pond that was in the forest. Luckily, it was not too far from the little camp that they had set up. She cleaned all of the dried blood off of her, but she didn't try to change her clothes. She also got rid of the cloth she used as a bandage for her bullet wound, and replaced it with her other sleeve. When she was as clean as she could be, she walked back over to where Crystal was.

Crystal looked at Kine worriedly. "Hey Em, there were just a few Rangers asking if I knew how or if some people died. Six men to be exact."

"And?"

"I lied to them. I said that I didn't know who could have done that. They left and said they were going to keep looking for the culprit. Good thing your clothes are dark. But I think you might have to get rid of those."

She pointed at the twin blades attached to Kine's belt. Kine followed her gaze. "That's not going to happen."

Crystal put her hands on her hips and stared Kine down. Kine stared back. "You can just say it was self defense if they figure it out. They shot at me. Hit me, actually."

"Self defense? You killed them without a thought!"

"I was hired to protect you, and I did so. What's wrong with that?"

"Maybe just kill the one that was shooting at you? I don't know!"

"I don't see the issue. I'm not getting rid of my blades."

Crystal huffed and threw her hands in the air. "Fine. Whatever. I give up."

Crystal put away her sleeping bag, and they set off again after eating a little of the food that Kine had bought. Ruva had decided to come out of her pokeball for the food, and decided to stay out for the rest of the time they were in the forest. The sun was shining through some of the branches, and the chikorita decided to get as much sun as she could.

Fia was not happy. There was a little blood on her golden fur. Kine seemed to notice this as well. The trainer couldn't believe she hadn't realized something as simple as that. Kine picked up the fox, and carried her over to the pond while Crystal was still eating. The fire type was indifferent about getting wet. Kine quickly cleaned Fia's fur, careful not to move her left arm too much, and the fox dried herself off. When the two were back. Crystal looked at Kine.

"Where were you?"

Kine looked down at Fia, who was still a little wet. "Oh." said Crystal.

Kine out the rest of the food away, and then they set off again. In a few hours, they had made it out of the forest. Unfortunately, they still had another entire route to go through! There was a sign that read "Route 34."

It was around the middle of the day, and they were only halfway to Goldenrod City, the site of Crystal's contest. Once Crystal realized there was an entire route, she groaned.

"Are you kidding me?! We only got halfway to Goldenrod in a day and a half?!"

Kine had a pained smirk plastered onto her face. Crystal's reactions were interesting to watch. Of course, the trainer was impressed by the length of the route, but it didn't bother her as much as an electronic door for a house. Strange, how the world works. She also wanted to get to the next town. It is not pleasant to walk around being vulnerable and in pain.

When Crystal was done with her tantrum, she turned back to Kine. "We'll keep going until we reach the city."

After the encounter from the night before, Fia felt better about her trainer. Of course, Kine was clueless about a lot of things, but at least she wasn't some dumb and incredibly cheery ten year-old. The vulpix concluded that her life could have turned out so much worse. She could have been stuck with a trainer who just wanted her for her different coloring.

A few hours later, they made it to Goldenrod City. The sun had already set, and it was very late into the evening. They quickly went to the hospital to get Kine treated. Once they did, Kine collapsed.

The receptionist looked at Crystal, along with a majority of the people that were there waiting to get treated, which was not a lot seeing how late it was. "What in the world happened?" asked the receptionist.

"A wild pokemon with bullet seed?" said Crystal uncertainly. She didn't want to talk about the group of men that showed up. And what if the Rangers from before were somehow here to listen in? Her answer _was_ logical, there were plenty of grass types that could learn bullet seed, and they had come out of the Ilex Forest.

The receptionist sighed and muttered something about trainers and how stupid they could be. Crystal didn't take that much offense to it. After all, a lot of people thought trainers were stupid and reckless. It really wasn't that far off from the truth.

"Just sit down over there," said the receptionist, "You'll be called when she's out."

Crystal nodded and sat down. Once she sat down, she started falling asleep.

* * *

Kine woke up to the sound of beeping, and the smell of disinfectant. When she opened her eyes, everything around her was white. She groaned, remembering where she was. _The hospital again. Just like when I woke up in this strange world._

Kine sat up, and tried to move her left arm, quickly realizing that was a mistake. Her arm flared up in pain, and she immediately stopped moving it. She had gotten plenty of other wounds, including ones that were inflicted by bullets, but the pain never went away. Of course it wouldn't, bodies just didn't do that. Kine sighed. _You just have to keep getting up, no matter how many times you fall. Even if you do not want to._

She was stuck here, and there was nothing she could do about it. There was also nothing she could do to keep people shooting her in the arm either.

Kine felt something heavy on her lap and looked down. Ruva and Fia were snuggled up together on her lap sleeping without a care in the world. Kine pet them both, but was careful not to scare them awake. Sure she looked like she didn't care, but she did have a heart. Well, a small one at least.

Kine heard Crystal waking up and looked out the window. It looked like it was the early morning. Crystal looked at Kine in surprise. "How long were you awake?"

"A few minutes. How long was I out?"

"Nine hours, give or take."

Kine tried to keep her surprise hidden. Fia sneezed, and Kine got out of the way of a few embers. Barely. The fox looked up at her trainer, and looked like she felt bad. Ruva woke up when she felt the heat around her.

"Chika!"

Fia looked down and quickly apologized to the chikorita. Crystal was going to say something, but the door opened interrupting her. The doctor walked into the room. He walked to the foot of Kine's bed, and crossed his arms.

"How," he said.

"How?" asked Kine.

"How did you get a _bullet_ wound in Ilex forest?" he asked, "A forest where only Pokemon live. There aren't any humans in there, much less humans with _guns_. And your partner here said that it was because of a wild Pokemon with bullet seed."

Kine gave Crystal a look, and then shrugged. "I really do not know how the fuck that happened."

The doctor sighed, and a nurse came in the room. She was holding a bucket with gauze and bandages in it. "We need to check how you're healing and change the bandages," she said. Kine simply nodded. The nurse walked over, and unwrapped Kine's bandages. The doctor walked over while the nurse was doing. He was flabbergasted. It was healing faster than most people. The nurse seemed to be surprised as well.

"You certainly can heal faster than most," said the doctor uncertainly.

Kine nodded, grateful for that. She assumed that meant she would be out of the hospital faster, which was a good thing. She did _not_ want to spend more time in the hospital that she had to.

"But..."

 _Shit._

Kine looked up, expecting him to say something horrible. "I want you to stay a while longer for observation," he said. He smiled nervously, then he saw Kine's glare. If looks could kill, he would be dead, resurrected, then killed again. The doctor knew that it was his fault, but he couldn't really help it.

Kine sighed. "Fine," she said, "It isn't like I have a choice in the matter."

The nurse had finished rebandaging Kine's arm, and walked out of the room with the the doctor. Crystal looked at Kine. "My contest isn't until a few days, so we have free time. We got here a lot faster than I expected."

Kline nodded. "That means you can train, correct?"

"Yeah. I'll show it off to you later, 'kay?"

After Crystal stopped talking, she looked very thoughtful. After a few moments, she had a devilish look on her face. "We can sneak out. I've been wanting to practice for a bit. Oh, do you have your PokeGear and HoloCaster? While we're here, I wanted to get a radio card for my PokeGear. Apparently, you just have to answer some questions correctly on a quiz they give you!"

Kine looked at Crystal in confusion. _PokeGear? HoloCaster? What the hell are those?_

"PokeGear?"

Crystal looked to her bodyguard in shock. "What? You don't know what a PokeGear is? Omg you're so dense! You use them to make calls to other people. And the newer HoloCaster is used to make video calls."

Kine glared at Crystal when she was called dense. And what the hell was omg used for? It was just three random letters put together! Or at least, that is what Kine thought of it as. Fia and Ruva looked at their clueless trainer.

 _"Did the professor not give our trainer the machine to make calls? He does that for everyone."_

Fia shook her head. _"I don't know. I don't keep up with that type of thing."_

Ruva started thinking. She really wanted to know why the professor would forget something like that.

Crystal sighed. "Well, I guess we can see if the Radio Tower has any extra. And we can try to win some radio cards! After we sneak out of course!"

* * *

 **And that is the end! I tried to do a little bit of violence, but obviously I am not skilled enough to do that so well yet, but you get the idea. And what is up with Crystal? Strange men coming into the forest, following her and Kine? Do you think they're related somehow? Anything can happen in the world, so who knows?**

 **Sorry it took longer to get out, AP is a bitch. I'll still do my best to get the chapters out as fast as I can, and be expecting longer chapters too!**

 **Anywho, I hope you enjoyed! See you in the next one.**


	8. A New Member and Contest Fun

"Sneak out?" Kine could not believe how crazy Crystal sounded. Of course, she did not like staying in the hospital, but they would probably make her stay longer if she snuck out. That she definitely did _not_ want.

"Yeah! Sneak out," said Crystal, "Don't worry! It'll be fun!"

Crystal's idea of sneaking out was a _lot_ different that Kine's. When Kine thought of sneaking out, she thought of jumping out a window, or something crazy like that. Crystal was just thinking of walking out the door, and sneaking by all of the doctors and nurses. Crystal looked at Kine pleadingly. "Come on! It'll be fun!"

"You've said that already."

"Argh! Okay whatever! Be a lump sitting in a hospital bed and do nothing! You could be bored out of damn mind for all I care!"

Crystal then stormed out of the room, causing Crystal to sigh. _Of course_ she _would storm out like that,_ thought Kine, _Oh well._

Fia and Ruva looked up at their trainer when they heard the door slam shut. What did Kine do this time?

"Vul?"

"Chika?"

"She'll come back," said Kine, "And if she does not, someone owes me my money."

* * *

After a day of nothing productive, Kine was ready to rip her head off. It was extremely boring to stay in the hospital, not to mention that their food sucks big time. There wasn't even anything interesting to do in the room anyways. The only thing that was relatively interesting was to watch Fia and Ruva run around and play with each other. There was a knock on the door, and the nurse from earlier came in.

"I have your dinner for you," she said uncertainly. Kine pretty much intimidated everyone she came across. The nurse put the tray of food on Kine's lap, and then quickly left the room. Kine some of the food, but then let Fia and Ruva eat the rest. When they were done, they both fell asleep. Kine sighed and went to sleep as well, since she had nothing better to do anyway.

The next morning, there was a knock on the door. Kine looked up, and Crystal walked in holding a bunch of magazines. Kine hid the smirk she wanted to show.

 _Don't show it. Don't show it. Don't show it._

"Um, hi," said Crystal, "So, I'm sorry about blowing up at you yesterday. So, I brought some magazines for you to look at. Once you feel better, we can leave and go to the Radio Tower."

Kine shrugged. "Mhm."

Crystal handed Kine the magazines, and one of them caught Fia's attention. One of the magazines had an ad for a fire stone, and Fia went crazy over it. It was what she needed to become a ninetails! The vulpix grabbed it and shoved it in Kine's face.

"Vul! Pix! Vul Vul pix!"

Kine took the magazine and looked at it. There was what looked to be an ad, with a stone in the middle. The stone was an orange yellow color, with a fire in the middle. The words on top of it read _Fire Stone: Evolve some of your favorite fire types!_

Under the fire stone, there were pictures of a few pokemon, presumably the ones that could evolve with it. It did not show their evolutions, but Kine liked it that way. Truth be told, she didn't even know what evolution actually meant for a pokemon. They didn't just stay the same? One of the pictures was of a vulpix, except with different coloring. The vulpix in the picture had red fur, unlike Fia's golden fur.

Crystal seemed to get what Fia was trying to tell her trainer. Crystal looked at Kine, and then sighed. "She wants a fire stone," she said, "She'll be able to evolve using it."

"I can see that."

Crystal was about to say something, but then Kine showed the ad to her. Kine pointed at the picture of the vulpix. "I am not dumb enough to not look at the details. Just by reading it I can tell."

"Oh."

Kine looked down at the magazine for a little bit longer. After a few moments, she looked at Crystal.

"Where do I get one of these?"

"Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of places where you can buy them, and they are pretty expensive."

"How expensive?"

"A few thousand poke dollars," said Crystal, "Probaboy even more than that."

Kine coughed. _Well that is not an option,_ thought Kine. "Where else can I get them?"

"If you get enough athlete points in the Pokéathlon, you can buy one there. But, they're only sold every few days, and it's hard to get to the number of athlete points. You can also win one by coming first in the Bug Catching Contest, but that's pretty hard to do. Each region really has its own way of people finding them. So you could always travel somewhere else to get one, but I think that's pretty extreme. If you wanted to leave Johto, I would recommend going to Unova. I've heard they have a lot of places to get fire stones."

Kine was quiet. "You say Unova is a good option?"

Crystal nodded. "Yeah. but it's pretty far from here. If you want to do that, that's your decision, but it's pretty crazy in my opinion."

"I don't want to buy them."

Crystal sighed. "At least get a good number of badges first. I would reccomend going for all eight, but I don't know how far you'll actually be able to make it."

Kine got an idea. "I can just rush through the gym circuit."

Crystal looked at Kine in shock. "Why the hell would you want to do that! It's _insane!_ No one can make it through quickly! It usually takes _years_ , especially in Johto. People even quit at the third gym, the one _you_ want to face!"

Kine looked mad. She was smiling like crazy, and it made Crystal falter. "If no one can make it through quickly, then I will be the first one to do it. I bet accomplishing that can get someone some serious recognition."

"B-but!"

Kine smirked again. _All I need to do is get out of here, train extensively for a few days, then work on getting through the circuit._

"Oh yeah, and what if a gym leader is away from their gym? What are you going to do then smart one?"

Kine was confused. "They leave their gyms?"

"Of course they do!" exclaimed Crystal, "Wouldn't you want to get away from battling trainers all the time? That's their job you know. Wouldn't you want to get away from yours once in a while?"

 _Considering I did not have a choice, no not really_. "Um... I guess so," she said. Crystal threw her arms in the air. "Ugh I can't believe you!"

"I'm still going to get through all the gyms in record time," said Kine, "It would be great to have that kind of recognition."

Crystal facepalmed. She never realized exactly how crazy Kine, or Emlyn, was. She was zubat-shit crazy! Crystal then sighed. "You know what? Fine, whatever. Let's go outside. I can show you how I train."

Kine nodded and got out of the bed. Crystal handed Kine some clothes and then quickly explained how she would buy some more later. Crystal had promised more clothes to Kine after all. Kine quickly put on the navy blue shirt, black leggings that ended below her knee, and black sneakers as well. The clothes were surprisingly normal considering what people wore. The shirt did not have some kind of logo on it, and neither did the sneakers. Crystal led Kine out of the door, and avoided all of the nurses. It would get a little complicated if they were stopped and had to explain why Kine was leaving.

Once they were out of the hospital, Crystal sighed in relief, and then grinned. It wasn't everyday she could get someone to sneak out of a hospital with her. Well, she normally didn't visit hospitals in the first place.

"So where is this Radio Tower?" asked Kine, snapping Crystal out of her thoughts.

"Oh um, it's... this way! Come on!"

Crystal grabbed Kine's right hand, and led her to the Radio Tower. When they got there, Crystal rushed to the receptionist. "I'm here for your quiz to get a radio card for the PokeGear!"

"And I'm here to get a PokeGear," said Kine, "And a HoloCaster as well."

The receptionist looked at Kine like she was crazy. "You mean to tell me that you don't have one?! Professor Elm is supposed to give those out!"

Kine glared at the receptionist. "Are you telling me you expect me to go back all the way to New Bark Town where he is right now? Without a method of transportation?"

The receptionist sighed. "Alright _fine_. I have some extra here. Just take them."

Kine nodded and took the two appliances. The receptionist then turned to Crystal. "And you would to try the quiz for one of our radio cards?"

"Yes please."

Crystal was asked five questions that trainers should know by this point in time on their journey. Of course, since Kine was not from this world originally, all these questions were really hard for her. And who was this Kurt guy? Had she missed something in one of the previous towns? Oh well who cares. He probably was not that important anyway. Kine decided she would explore some of this town while she healed. Kine had overheard that there was a bike shop nearby. That would definitely be useful.

Before Kine had realized, Crystal was already done with the questionnaire, and she had won the radio card. While Crystal was celebrating, a girl with pink hair ran up to her.

"Oh my gosh that quiz was so _hard!_ I can't believe you did it! And on your first try too!"

She looked at Kine and Crystal. "Well, I have to go now, but I'm sure I'll see either of you soon. See ya later!"

She then walked out of the Radio Tower, leaving Kine and Crystal confused. "Well I guess we should go now," said Crystal. Kine agreed, and they left to go explore more of the city. When they were outside, Kine noticed something glowing. Kine turned in that direction and started walking. She wanted to know what that was all about. Crystal noticed that Kine was walking away, and ran to catch up with her. "Hey Emlyn! Where are you going?!"

"In the direction that I am walking."

"You know that's not what I meant!"

"Sounded like it."

"Argh! Fine whatever! You sure are getting sassy lately."

Kine did not respond. She had arrived at what she saw glowing in the distance. It was something called the Game Corner. Apparently, people could win prizes there. After looking at the sign, Kine decided to walk in, and her pokemon followed, along with Crystal. Inside, there were a lot of bright lights, and one table in the middle with a guy sitting at it.

"Welcome to the Game Corner!" he said happily, "Here's a coin case! Care to try your hand in this game?"

Kine slowly nodded. Why not? It wasn't like she had anything to lose playing this game. "Once you flip a card over with a voltorb on it, you lose! And if you had coins for this game, you would lose those too!"

Kine shrugged. That did not sound too complicated. "Ok, I'll play."

The first time Kine played, she lost immediately. "Damn it!" she muttered. Fia smirked, and was trying her best not to laugh, and Ruva was doing the same. Kine rolled her eyes. After a few more tries, Kine was able to get the hang of the game, and was getting a lot of coins. A man sitting at another table noticed this, and once Kine finished her current game, he waved her over. Kine got up from the table, and walked over to him.

"You know you can buy things with those coins right?" he said. After seeing Kine's look, he started explaining himself. "It is why people usually come here, but they all quit after seeing how many coins they need to get prizes."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Well you see, you have enough coins to get a very rare pokemon. Well, rare in these parts. A dratini. It is a dragon type, and it becomes very strong."

"Um, okay."

Kine handed over the amount of coins needed for a dratini. The man smiled, and handed Kine a pokeball. Kine took it, and then walked out of the Game Corner with Crystal, Fia and Ruva. Kine was still looking at the pokeball. Crystal looked at Kine. "What are you going to name it?"

Kine shrugged. "Let's see." Kine then threw the pokeball up into the air, letting out a small blue serpent with a white stomach and small little white horns on the sides of its head. "Draaatiiii!"

Crystal smiled. "Sounds like a boy," she said. Kine crossed her arms. "How about... Cadmus?"

"Draaa~"

Crystal smirked. "Looks like he likes the name."

Cadmus started playing with Fia and Ruva. Crystal then looked at the time. "I think we've been gone long enough," she said, "Let's go back. I don't want them to start worrying too much about why you're not there."

* * *

"Just _where_ have you been all this time?"

Kine pointed to Cadmus. "Game Corner. What is wrong with that?"

The doctor sighed and said, "You're here because you were hurt. And that means that you can't just leave and run the chance of opening your wound. Even less so if you're being kept here for observation."

He then pointed to the bed, and Kine slowly walked over and sat down. She then put her blades and gun on the ground next to the bed. Kine laid down and crossed her arms behind her head. "So I am not allowed to leave this bed?"

"No, you can get up from the bed, you just are not allowed to leave the room without permission."

"Whatever."

The doctor left the room, and Crystal looked like she had an idea. "I'm going to show you how I train!" she said happily. Kine's pokemon looked extremely excited. Crystal started running toward the door.

"Can't you show me in here?" asked Kine. Crystal looked at her in shock. "You do know that the pokemon use moves right? As in, they can still damage things."

"Oh."

Crystal sighed and then walked out of the room. Before she left, she turned to look at Kine. "Be sure to watch out of that window, 'kay?"

Kine remained silent, while her pokemon looked excited. Once Crystal was it of the room, Kine closed her eyes and layed down while her Pokemon waited at the window expectantly. After a few minutes, Kine noticed that there were some bright lights coming from outside. She got up and walked over to the window. What Kine saw surprised her. Of course, she knew that Crystal was training, but she did not expect this. All of the lights were really bright and beautiful.

The pokemon trainer could not wipe the look of surprise on her face. Once the spectacle was over, Kine walked back to the bed and laid down on it. Her pokemon looked upset that it had ended.

After a few moments, Crystal walked into the room. "Did you like it?" she asked, already knowing the answer. The only thing is, Kine did not answer. "Oh come on! I saw your expression through the window, and you know what? I wish I would've taken a picture of it! Your expression was priceless."

"Whatever."

Crystal sighed. "I know you made me promise to get you more clothes, so why don't we go do that once you get out?"

Kine nodded.

* * *

A few days later, Kine was let out of the hospital, and she and Crystal left to get Kine some more clothes. They walked to the nearest clothes shop and entered. The woman at the register smiled.

"Welcome!"

Crystal smiled back, and then pushed Kine to the back of the store. She tried to push Kine into a fitting room, but Kine stopped her. "Did you forget? I pick."

Crystal sighed and stepped back in defeat. Kine walked around the store to see everything she had, but she gravitated toward the darker colors. She ended us choosing a black zip-up jacket with a high neck over a dark purple shirt, black pants with plenty of pockets, and black combat boots. Kine decided to roll up the sleeves of her jacket, she she put her hands in the pockets. She also put her gun on the inside of her jacket - her blades drew enough attention to her. She then put her blades on her belt. Kine came out of the dressing room, and Crystal clapped her hands together.

"Perfect! You're just missing one thing..."

Crystal walked over to a rack and pulled out a bag. The bag was a simple black messenger bag. It was big enough to carry a bunch of stuff. Kine accepted it from Crystal, and put the strap on her right shoulder. They both walked over to the register so Crystal could pay. After that was done, they walked out of the store and Crystal turned to look at Kine. "I can show you where the contest is going to be held if you want to stay and watch. Of course if that won't get in the way of your stupid idea to get through the circuit as fast as you can."

Kine thought about it for a moment. She actually didn't know if she wanted to watch the contest or not. Kine felt Cadmus nudge her leg, and Fia stomp on her shoulder. Kine sighed. "Okay."

Crystal smiled, and made a motion like she was cheering. "Yay!"

She then grabbed Kine's hand. "Come on let's go!"

After a while, they arrived at the contest hall. Crystal turned around and had a huge smile plastered onto her face. "This is the contest hall! The contest is later today, so now you know where it is!"

Crystal looked like she was going to walk away. "Wait."

Crystal turned around. "What is it Em?"

"What about my money?"

Crystal sighed. Of course Kine would ask about the money; anyone would. Crystal smirked and winked. "I'll give it to you after the contest. Don't worry; I'll find you for sure."

Kine sighed. This was probably to make sure Kine actually stayed and watched the performance. Or she just didn't have the money to pay. If that was the case, Kine was going to hurt someone. Or, maybe something cute and fluffy. It wouldn't be bad if it was well liked as well.

Kine's pokemon, however, looked extremely excited to be able to watch the contest, and see more performances. Ruva was jumping around, and Cadmus just watched. Fia jumped down from Kine's shoulder and watched Ruva at Cadmus's side. It kind of looked like the chikorita was trying to dance. Crystal smiled, and then looked back at Kine.

"Hey Em, I'm gonna have to get going soon. They want all of the coordinators to get ready early. So I'll...see you later, 'kay?"

Kine nodded, and watched Crystal walk off. Kine then looked down to her pokemon. It looked like she was on her own again after the contest. Kine looked around, realizing that the contest didn't start until a few hours.

"What do you think about some training?" she asked her pokemon. They all nodded, and it looked like they were kind of excited. Cadmus looked at the other two pokemon.

 _"So what's this training thing?"_ he asked.

 _"We practice our moves,"_ said Ruva, _"A_ lot. _"_

 _"Our trainer gets really intense,"_ said Fia, _"So you'd better be prepared."_

Cadmus nodded in understanding. He didn't think the training was going to be _that_ hard. The dragon followed Kine and the other two pokemon to a field that was close to the Pokemon Center. Once they were there, Kine crossed her arms and looked at Cadmus.

"Okay, let's see what you can do."

* * *

After a few hours of training Cadmus, Kine felt confident about her next gym battle. The dragon had actually done very well at the training. That guy was right about Cadmus being able to turn into something powerful. Now it was time to watch the contest. Kine walked to the contest hall, and she noticed that the people around her edged away from her once they saw her blades. She decided it was a good thing that she put away her gun. People would have _really_ been scared of her, though that's not always a bad thing. In her world, it would be considered a good thing.

Kine and her pokemon quickly arrived at the contest hall. Kine looked at what was in front of her in shock. The place was packed! It looked like she had to stand. Kine was about to walk in the contest area, but she was stopped.

"Excuse me miss?"

Kine turned. A receptionist was looking at her nervously. "Hm?" said Kine, "What is it?"

"I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to ask you to put your pokemon in their pokeballs. Since this is a new thing in Johto, we can't have anything being messed up. Sorry for the inconvenience."

Kine looked at the receptionist in shock. "Uh...sure." She retuned Ruva and Cadmus with ease, but Fia was another story. Fia really didn't like going into the pokeball like other pokemon. In fact, she hated it. Kine sighed and looked at Fia. "Look, I know you don't like going in here, but you have to."

Fia turned her head. "Vul."

Kine sighed again. "You have to get into the damned pokeball!"

"Vulpix."

Now Kine was getting annoyed. After a while of glaring at her shiny, Kine looked away and hid her smirk. "Fine then. I won't put you in there."

Fia smirked like she had won, and that was when Kine returned her to the pokeball. Fia was definitely going to be pissed about that. Kine sighed. "I'll regret that later," Kine said. She sighed thinking about the burn she might get later from Fia. The receptionist sweatdropped. "U-um, right this way," she said, "Thank you for putting your pokemon back into their pokeballs. Please enjoy the show."

Kine walked toward the seats. Since all of them were full, she decided to stand near the back wall. Once Kine had found her spot, she sighed. She had only gone to the contest because her pokemon wanted to. And now they couldn't even watch the show. Before the contest started, Kine looked around at all the people, looking for any threats. Of course, she knew that it was peaceful, but you can never be too cautious. As she was looking around, she saw some people looking around like they were looking for someone. They were all wearing the same colored uniforms, but they didn't look like 'bad' people. Well, no one could be too sure about that. They looked uncomfortable, kind of like they weren't used to places like this. Kine also noticed that some people were following them, kind of like officials.

Kine's eyes widened in realization. Crystal _did_ say something about some Pokemon Rangers looking for her - the person who killed those men in the forest.

 _It's not like it was your fault,_ she said to herself, _It was self-defense. They wounded me, and I can show them that wound._

Kine kept her stoic expression as she watched the rangers and officials walk around. She was used to people watching. Soon after, the lights dimmed, and the contest looked like it was about to start. A bunch of lights started flashing, and it hurt Kine's eyes. She held her arm up to shield her eyes, but then saw that no other person was doing the same thing. They were used to this kind of thing? Kine sighed. She was never going to get used to living here.

In the middle of the contest, right when Crystal was about to step on the stage, the rangers spotted Kine. The man stared at her for a little bit, and then turned to the people with him. They were then all staring. Specifically at her blades. One of the officials spoke something into his radio. Kine mentally cursed. Crystal was right. She should have hid the blades away when she had the chance.

Kine looked around her. All of the exits had a security guard standing near them. Probably a result of that man speaking into his radio. _So they definitely don't want someone to leave. That's problematic._

She slowly crossed her arms, kind of to show that she didn't have any weapons in her hands, and that her only weapons were her blades. Of course, they didn't need to know that she had a gun. Not yet. Kine decided to stay where she was, and then escape with the rest of the crowd once the contest was over.

Many more lights and spectacular pokemon moves later, the contest was over, with Crystal as the winner. The crowd started clapping and cheering, while some people started walking out. Kine edged toward the exit, and once all the people in the contest hall started filing out, Kine merged in and blended in with them. On the way out, Crystal found Kine.

"Hey Em!"

Kine turned around, and Crystal jogged over to her. "I have to stay for an awards thing, but I'll be sure to find you afterwards to give you your payment, 'kay?"

The trainer nodded. "Great!" said Crystal smiling, "Then I'll see you later!"

The coordinator ran back into the contest hall, and Kine started walking away again. She wanted to get out of Goldenrod as fast as possible for the moment, then come back later for her gym battle. She just wanted to make sure the rangers didn't follow her. Kine had passed the gym and was walking toward the next route.

"Stop right there!"

Kine stopped and glanced behind her. The rangers were there, along with some detectives and other officials.

 _Shit._

* * *

 **And that's the end of the chapter! Okay, yes, I know this took a _really_ long time to get out, but I had exams and such. Speaking of exams, I had to teach myself during my physics exam. It was terrible! Well, my teacher is terrible too, but that's besides the point. He doesn't teach. AT ALL. Just worksheet after worksheet after worksheet. And when we get homework, it's something he didn't teach in class, and he expects us to just magically know how to do it. I honestly know as much physics as I knew the first day of school - NADA. It's ridiculous.**

 **Ah, sorry about the rant. In other news, I am on break! Yes, Christmas Break! I'll try to update more too. AND it's Christmas Eve tomorrow! Oh my goodness! So for everyone that celebrates it, Merry Christmas!**

 **Well then, I'll see you in the next chapter!**


	9. Detectives Are Asses

"Stop right there!"

Kine glanced behind her at the rangers and the officials. Maybe she could outrun them. But, that might not be the best idea. Kine heard pokeballs releasing some pokemon. "Now turn around with your hands in the air. _Slowly._ "

She sighed and turned around. People had started looking in their direction, curious to see what was happening. Nothing was on the news about this. The pokemon that had been sent out were mainly growlithe. There were one or two psychic pokemon. The rangers looked disgusted, and the officers glared at Kine. "Come with us. _Now._ "

Kine didn't move. She looked around her, and saw that there really wasn't an option for escape. The growlithe looked ready to attack Kine if she did anything. They reminded her of those bigger striped dogs that had tried to burn her alive. It wouldn't be a good idea to actually go through that. Fire started forming around the jaws of the growlithe, and the psychics were preparing an attack.

" _Now._ Don't make me repeat myself."

The trainer sighed inwardly and took a step forward. She was led by the officers to a different building and into a room. The door was closed and locked, leaving her alone. They had taken away her blades, but nothing else. Either they were dumb and didn't remember to check what she had, or they purposely left her with a majority of her things. She was just happy she still had something to protect herself with. And having her team with her wasn't too bad either. What would they do if they ended up arresting her or something? What would happen to her pokemon? And...what did Kine's pokemon really mean to her?

The door opened and she looked at the two people that had walked into the room. One was a male ranger with his ampharos, and the other was a man that looked like a detective. He was wearing something that looked like a suit with a tie and everything. He was even wearing a badge.

The ranger was glaring at Kine. His ampharos looked pretty upset too. The man that looked like a detective crossed his arms and looked at Kine. "First, what's your name?"

"Wouldn't you like to know?"

"Just answer the question. We'll be able to find out anyway, so save us both the trouble."

"...Emlyn."

"Ok Emlyn. Do you know why you're here?"

Kine crossed her legs and said, "No, but I assume you are going to tell me. Is that correct?"

The ranger slammed his hands on the table. "Why did you kill those six people?!"

As expected. The ranger blew up in front of her. He looked ready to blow up ever since he walked through that door and looked at Kine. The trainer decided to play ignorant for a little bit. "What six men?"

The ranger looked like he was going to say something else, but the detective stopped him. "The ones in Ilex Forest. They were cut up by something that looked like swords of some sort. Kind of like the ones you had hanging from your waist."

Kine was about to say something else that was kind of stupid, but the detective stopped her. He gave her a toothy grin. "We know it was you. No one carries swords anymore, and no one is dumb enough to have them just out in the open like you do."

A sigh escaped her lips. "Alright fine. I killed them because they were trying to kill me. Why they were trying to kill me? How the fuck should I know? All I knew was they were a threat and put my life and the life of my client in immediate danger."

"But how do you know they were trying to kill you?"

"They shot at me. Multiple times. Kind of hit me too."

The ranger crossed his arms. He didn't believe her. "Prove it."

Kine shrugged. She took her jacket off and pulled up her sleeve, showing the scar from the bullet. "If you do not believe that, which is pretty ridiculos, look me up in the hospital records."

"But does that really justify killing them?"

"What would you do? People are trying to kill you and the person you and the person you are protecting, and they are not going to stop. Are you just going to let them? Or, are you going to protect your own life?"

"W-well..."

Kine smirked. "Exactly."

She got up and started walking out. "So this clears everything up, correct? I did it out of self defense so there is not a problem. If you really have an issue, keep the blades. Do whatever you want with them — I don't care."

She opened the door and saw some more people blocking the door, keeping her in the room. Kine sighed and sat back down in the chair. She glared at the ranger and detective. Wasn't that all she needed to say to get out of there? What else was there?

The detective crossed his arms. "You can't go that easily."

"Hm?"

"It means we don't let people off the hook like that," said the ranger.

"What part of they almost tried to kill me did you not understand?"

The detective sighed. "Fine, we'll let you go today. But if I hear you are ever back here, you'll be stuck for a _long_ time. Oh, and one other thing. Actually two."

"What."

"A majority of that money that you're getting from that job gets handed over to us. For future damages. Think of it as payment for letting you go. You leave with 2400. That seems fair enough doesn't it?"

Kine glared. _That's only five days pay. Bastard. He doesn't want me to have anything._

"And the other thing?"

"You give us the number of your HoloCaster, and if we ever need _assistance_ , we call and you get back right away."

She ended up giving them a sigh and a nod, and then was able to leave the room. She was given her money and then left the building.

* * *

Once Kine was outside, she went to the route north of the city to train for a bit. From what she heard, Whitney was going to be pretty hard. Especially her miltank.

Kine got to a spot she thought would be suitable for training, as well as far away from everything else, and let out her three pokemon. Fia, Ruva, and Cadmus stood ready. Kine crossed her arms. She was thinking what they could do first for training. Maybe try out their moves some more?

"All right, first we need to work on some moves a lot more. So we're ready for all the gyms of course. Fia you go first. Use Fire Spin in that area in front of you, be sure not to hit anything."

 _I don't need that detective to find me again._

Fia nodded and used the move. The area around them got a lot hotter as the fire shot up into the sky. It was really bright too. Kine had to shield her eyes from the bright light. Her pokemon, on the other hand, were completely fine. Once Fia stopped the attack, Kine smirked. "Good job. Now use Heat Wave."

Fia used the move, and it looked stronger than it had before. Kine looked impressed. Fia stopped with the move and looked tired. Kine sighed. "Alright, Ruva it's your turn now. Use Razor Leaf and aim it at that rock over there."

Ruva nodded. The razor sharp leaves flew toward the rock and pretty much destroyed it. Ruva saw what she did and jumped up and down cheering. Her trainer and the other two pokemon sighed. The chikorita sure had a lot of energy.

Kine nodded in approval. "Good. Now use Synthesis."

Ruva looked at her trainer in shock. Kine never had them use recovery moves like that. Ruva concentrated and absorbed the sunlight that was there into her leaf. After Ruva finished using the move and had a lot more energy. She was able to heal the damage she takes with that move.

Ruva looked back at Kine. The trainer had her arms crossed. Having a healing move would help out a lot in battle. She would need to find a way to balance it all out. Not healing can lead to downfall, but nothing is ever going to happen if healing and moves for protection are used all the time.

Kine crossed her arms. Tackle wasn't too strong of a move, so it wouldn't really be a good idea to try and train with that move. Poison Powder was a good option to cause slow damage to the opponent, but Kine didn't want to risk that just in case something...unfortunate happened and messed up everything. Like if a gust of wind blowing out of nowhere right when Ruva uses the move and blows the powder back at her, or the other pokemon. Yeah, that would not be good.

"Okay Ruva, that's enough for now. Cadmus, it's your turn."

The dratini moved and stayed in front of Kine. He was ready for anything. Kine took out her pokedex and scanned for his moves. It turned out the dragon could use Wrap, Thunder Wave, Twister, and Dragon Rage. Using Twister right now wouldn't be too good of an idea, considering what it could do. Kine could just assume what Thunder Wave could do by the name. She knew it had something to do with electricity, and she didn't want to be anywhere near something like that. Stupid electric types and paralysis. The two moves Kine thought were actually worth working on were Dragon Rage and Wrap. Twister could end up being used for the first time in a battle or something, and not actual training.

"Okay Cadmus. I want you to use Dragon Rage behind you, toward that tree over there."

Cadmus nodded and used the move. The tree ended up getting hit just a little bit, so there wasn't a threat of it falling over, or any wild pokemon getting pissed from it. Kine smiled. This was a pretty strong move at this point, so it would probably be good to use it against Whitney and her miltank. "Good," said Kine, "Now use it a few more times."

Cadmus obeyed and used Dragon Rage more. While this was happening, Kine was thinking of what else they could to train. She could have them run so they wouldn't get tired as often, and get in on the training as well. Kine didn't like the idea of just sitting back barking out orders. Though she was kind of useless for close combat without her blades. She still had her gun, so that was something.

Cadmus finished using Dragon Rage, and right as Kine was going to tell them to run around, a trainer ran up to her. Once he got to her, he had to put his hands on his knees to catch his breath. He looked around twelve or thirteen.

"I have...no idea...why you would be out this far into the route...but...I challenge you to a battle!"

He sat on the ground, opened a water bottle, and started chugging it. He completely emptied his water bottle and then stayed on the ground panting. After a while he stood up. Kine crossed her arms. "Are you ready now?"

He nodded and sent out a kadabra. Kine decided that it would be a good idea to see how Cadmus would do in a battle. So far, all he had done was a lot of training. She looked at the small dragon, and he nodded. Cadmus stood ready.

"Confusion!"

"Dodge and use Thunder Wave!"

Cadmus jumped out of the way of the attack and then directed a weak bolt of electricity toward the kadabra. "Teleport away!"

The dragon looked upset that his attack missed. "Stay focused!" yelled out Kine, "Once you see him use Twister!"

The trainer smirked. "Keep teleporting around; don't let him catch you!"

Cadmus tried to fire off a Twister but the kadabra was nowhere to be seen. The area in front of Cadmus started forming the move. "Stop!"

Cadmus looked at his trainer in surprise. "Drati?"

Kine put her hands on her hips. "If you attack without a target you will get tired out extremely quickly. Wait until I tell you to attack."

Kine saw the kadabra for a split second before it disappeared again. They were going to have to wait until it was too tired to keep teleporting. Cadmus kept looking around. He didn't like not knowing where his opponent was.

The trainer Kine was facing was enjoying this. His favorite part of battling was making his kadabra teleport around and confuse whoever he was facing. Though, he was getting just a tiny bit bored. Normally people would just attack blindly, hoping to hit something. The girl he was facing was acting way different. She even stopped her Pokémon from attacking! He grinned. _Time to end this._

"Now!"

The kadabra appeared behind Cadmus and used Confusion. Cadmus didn't react fast enough and got hit by it. He fell forward and hit the ground. Kine glared at the kadabra, and it glared back. It looked like it really hated her for some reason.

"Whatever. Stupid cat-fox," she grumbled. "Cadmus use Twister!"

A tornado formed and started moving until it hit the kadabra. It flew back and hit the ground. "Dragon Rage!"

Cadmus opened his mouth and something that looked like blue fire came out of his mouth. It hit the kadabra and it forced the kadabra to faint. The trainer that was battling Kine looked at his fainted pokemon in disbelief. He thought he was going to win. Seeing the look on his face, Kine laughed to herself.

"Oh that's hilarious! You thought you were going to beat me like it was no big deal!"

He looked away. "Shut up."

Kine smirked, and the kid glared at her. He put his hand out and Kine shook it. "The name's Axel. That was a good battle."

Kine nodded. "Likewise."

"What? So you're not going to tell me your name?"

"Sable."

"Interesting name."

Kine nodded. She didn't want to use Emlyn, since the detectives kind of knew that name. Plus, she didn't know who this kid was. As young as he was, he could be a part of something. One could never be too sure.

Axel's kadabra had recovered a bit by now so it got up and moved over to his side. "This is Rhys."

"Kada. Bra."

The kadabra was still glaring at Kine. Axel looked at his kadabra in confusion. "He never acts like that, I wonder what's wrong."

Kine shrugged. "Don't worry about it; I don't really care."

Axel looked at his kadabra. "I'm gonna go get him healed at a center. See you!"

With that, he ran away. Kine rolled her eyes. Something didnt feel right about the kid. Or maybe all trainers were like that. They saw some attacks and ran toward it, assuming it was another trainer. If it was a wild pokemon, then that would mean very bad things for said trainer.

Kine then turned to Cadmus. "Good job out there."

As a response, Cadmus puffed out his chest. Fia and Ruva started laughing. _"Don't do that!"_ said Fia.

 _"It makes you look really silly!"_ said Ruva.

The dragon looked away. _"S-shut up."_

Kine clapped her hands. "Alright you three, focus. We're still not done with training."

Her pokemon groaned. Kine crossed her arms. "Come on — don't complain. Fia, you're gonna go first."

After all of their training, Fia learned Will-O-Wisp, Ruva's Razor Leaf turned into Magical Leaf, and Cadmus learned Slam.

Kine crossed her arms and smirked. It looked like they might be ready for the gym. Though, it was getting kind of late. It would be a better idea to go to the Pokemon Center and get some rest. "Alright, let's go."

* * *

 **Okay, happy late New Year! I wanted to get this out sooo much earlier, but every time I sat down to type this, someone would call me to do something. It's like a telepathic message was sent out saying, _Oh yeah! She's about to start typing! Call her over!_ **

**So yes, shorter chapter than usual but whatever. I'm still trying to get these chapters up faster. So, until the next update!**


	10. Third Badge

Kine and her pokemon arrived at the Pokemon Center. Nurse Joy stood at the counter as usual, welcoming anyone that walked in. She saw Kine walk in and smiled.

"Welcome to the Pokemon Center. How may I help you?"

"I was looking for a room to stay in."

"Okay, let me go check."

Of course, there were plenty of benches to sleep on in Goldenrod, but nothing beats a nice comfy bed. Benches didn't have all that much support. They hurt after a while too.

"You're in luck! We have one more room available."

Kine nodded.

"Thanks."

"I'll take you to it. Your room is on the second floor, end of the hall on the right. Follow me."

Kine followed Joy up the stairs and toward her room. Kine walked in and Nurse Joy handed her the room key. Kine took it and walked into the room with her pokemon behind her. Nurse Joy looked like she had something else to say. Kine looked at her.

"Well, since there are two beds in this room, there might be a small chance that someone else rooms with you. But that's just a small chance."

Kine nodded. If someone came, she couldn't do anything about it. Nurse Joy bowed to her, and walked away, leaving Kine with her pokemon.

Kine sat on the bed and looked at her pokemon. They had already curled up on the other bed and were sleeping. Kine sighed and decided that she should go to sleep as well.

* * *

The next morning, Kine woke up and immediately felt that something was wrong. She looked around her, but then remembered the events of the previous day. They had taken away her blades. Wait no, that was not it. She gave her blades to her. Kine sighed. That was idiotic of her. She was going to have to find something else that would serve the same purpose.

Kine sighed and crossed her arms. It really sucked not to be able to have her blades. But it was her fault for getting caught like that. She was caught up in the moment the previous day, and at the time, did not care about her blades. She just wanted to leave that place, and that was what she got for it. Next time she is able to get some daggers or blades, she is going to hide them _extremely_ well.

Cadmus was the first to wake up out of Kine's three pokemon. He looked over at his trainer and saw that she was upset. Well, maybe that was understatement. She looked pissed. Cadmus inched back just a little bit, accidentally waking up Fia and Ruva in the process. Ruva didn't really care, but Fia did not like having her sleep interrupted. She glared at Cadmus, and then blew a small weak flame at him. It hit Cadmus, but he shrugged it off. Fia jumped off the bed and then climbed onto Kine's lap. The trainer noticed this, and realized it was time to get ready if she wanted to challenge the gym today.

Kine got up.

"Alright, let's get ready to face the gym today."

 _I can always find a dagger later. There are always plenty of places to look._

Kine and her pokemon walked out of the room, and out to the cafeteria. It was almost completely full because of all the trainers that were there.

Two trainers were sitting at one table finishing their breakfast and talking. Kine accidentally kind of listened in on their conversation.

"-it would be better to go to the other Pokemon Center?"

"Maybe, but that one might be pretty full too."

Kine looked at them in shock. There was another Pokemon Center? It took her a few moments to realize that obviously they would have two, considering how big the city was. That meant she could technically spend ten days in a room with no rent to pay. She technically had nine days left, since she used the first one the night before.

Kine walked away from the two trainers, and went to get some food.

When they had finished eating, Kine went out with her pokemon toward the gym. Today was the day she was going to challenge Whitney. Kine and her walked around for a bit, and then found the gym. She walked inside.

The gyms was filled with many boxes arranged to form the face of a pokemon. It was also pink. Very pink. The walls and floors were pink, and the boxes were sea green and brown. Fia, Ruva, and Cadmus looked ready for a fight.

Kine saw one of the gym trainers and decided to challenge her first. The trainer looked at Kine and smirked. She walked over to Kine and out a hand on her hip.

"Let's battle. Go!"

She sent out a sentret. Kine looked down at Ruva, and the chikorita jumped out in front. She was staring down the sentret in front of her, ready for anything.

"Ruva, use Magical Leaf!"

Leaves surrounded with different colors appeared around Ruva. The leaves flew toward the sentret, hitting it and knocking it out. The gym trainer sighed, and then sent out another sentret. It used tackle on Ruva, and the chikorita flew back.

"Poison Powder," said Kine.

"Dodge!"

The sentret tried to jump too late. The move hit it, and it fell to the ground. A purple line appeared right above its nose, indicating that it was poisoned. Kine smirked and looked at Ruva.

"Magical Leaf!"

The attack hit the sentret, but did not exactly knock it out. It was on the ground, and it was close to fainting.

The gym trainer looked at her sentret with worry. "Come on, you can do it, just get up!"

Kine looked down at Ruva.

"Use Tackle and end this."

Ruva ran toward the sentret and hit it. Along with the poison, it was too much for the poor pokemon to bear. After the hit, it flew back and hit a wall, causing it to faint.

The girl sighed, gave Kine some prize money, and then signaled for her to move on.

Kine beat the rest of the gym trainers the same way. She kept using Ruva in the battles, letting her gain a lot of experience. While the chikorita was ecstatic about this, the vulpix and dratini were not. They were itching to battle and do something. They didn't like just standing around like that and watching someone else do all of the work.

Whitney was a girl with pink hair in pigtails, a white and dark pink shirt, shorts, long black socks, and sneakers. She probably thought she was extremely cute. A miltank stood by her side, as well as a clefairy, the pokemon the arranged boxes resembled.

Kine stood before Whitney, the gym leader of the Goldenrod City Gym. Whitney smiled and walked a little further toward Kine. Her eyes widened as she realized who Kine was.

"Hey! I recognize you! You were at the Radio Tower with that other girl! Welcome to the gym! Everyone was into Pokémon, so I got into it, too! Pokémon are super cute! You want to battle? I'm warning you-I'm good!"

Kine looked down at Ruva. The chikorita had been doing very good during the entire gym, so what was the problem with using her during the battle against the gym leader? Plus, Ruva hadn't gotten all that much battling recently. Whitney smiled. "Go Cleffy!"

Her clefairy jumped forward. The pink pokemon looked ready to fight, and so did Whitney.

"Cleffy, use Double Slap!"

"Ruva, get out of the way!"

Ruva tried to move, but she was too slow and ended up getting hit. The chikorita was pushed back a little bit, but she did not let it phase her.

"Magical Leaf!"

The leaves coated in different colors flew and hit the clefairy. It was forced back because of the hit. Ruva looked back at her trainer, and Kine nodded in approval.

"Good job Ruva. Now use Tackle!"

Ruva nodded and started running. As she was running, a white glow started to surround her, and she started to change.

Fia and Cadmus looked at their teammate in shock. Ruva was evolving!

Once Ruva's Tackle hit, the white glow stopped. The chikorita no longer stood there. Instead there was a yellowish green dinosaur with a green leaf on its head and long green buds around its neck. Ruva had went from a chikorita to a bayleaf.

Ruva looked down at herself. It was about time she evolved! She felt like it was never going to happen.

Whiteny smiled. "Congrats! Your chikorita evolved, that's pretty cool! It's so cute too!"

Kine smirked. "Ruva, use Magical Leaf!"

The bayleaf nodded and used the move that was now even stronger since she had evolved. The move hit Cleffy before it could even react. Whitney looked down at her fainted pokemon and sighed.

"Okay Cleffy, return," she said with a disappointed tone. She then looked at her miltank, and her miltank nodded back at her.

"Alright Melty, let's do this!"

The miltank stepped onto the field. Although Ruva had just evolved, she was a little bit intimidated by the miltank.

Kine's smirk disappeared, and her expression was completely unreadable. She needed to see what this miltank was going to be able to do; it _does_ have a reputation for being extremely hard to battle. A lot of trainers would complain about that in the Pokemon Center.

"Be ready for anything," she said to Ruva and the rest of her pokemon. They all nodded.

"Alright Melty, use Rollout!"

The miltank hopped a few times, and then started rolling toward Ruva. Kine clenched her fists.

"Dodge it!"

The bayleaf tried to dodge the attack, but the miltank was too fast. It hit Ruva and made her fly back. She slowly got up and nodded toward her trainer.

"Use Magical Leaf!"

The attack of leaves hit, and the miltank received damage. It got up and used Rollout again without Whitney telling it to. Ruva got hit again, and the move was stronger than before, making Ruva fly back farther. Ruva got up, and Kine was starting to get frustrated. They needed to do something to avoid that move, before it knocked Ruva out. Kine looked at Ruva. She was going to have to heal the damage that Ruva was taking.

"Ruva, use Synthesis!"

The bayleaf nodded and started absorbing all the light that she could. She then used it to heal the damage that she had taken and restore her health. Ruva looked like she was in better shape. Kine looked at Whitney's miltank to see what options she had to defeat it. She clenched her fists and looked forward.

"Ruva, use Magical Leaf!"

Ruva used the move again and it hit Melty. The miltank was pushed back, got up, and then used Rollout again. Ruva was hit again, and the damage she had healed was gone. One more hit, and she would be down. Kine looked over at her pokemon. Cadmus and Fia looked ready to fight.

"Ruva, come back. Cadmus, get out there."

The bayleaf made her way over to her trainer, and the dratini jumped out in front of the miltank. Melty used Rollout again.

"Cadmus dodge it!"

Cadmus jumped out of the way, and was able to avoid Metly's attack. Kine sighed in relief. That was good.

Whitney smiled. "Melty, use Attract!"

"Dodge it and use Twister!"

Cadmus was a little too slow, and was not able to get out of the way of the hearts that were now circling around him. They got closer, and then hit Cadmus. His eyes turned into hearts, and he refused to attack Melty. The miltank was now smiling as much as her trainer.

"Melty use Stomp and then Rollout!.

Melty used those two moves in succession, landing a hit both times. Kine had tried to tell Cadmus to get out of the way, but he chose to ignore her. Attract had immobilized him. Kine sighed.

"Cadmus, come back here. Fia, let's go."

The dratini somehow made his way back to Kine and Fia stepped out onto the battlefield.

All they needed to do was attack and knock out Melty. She was at a low enough health that she would faint if another strong attack hit her. Kine and her vulpix looked at each other and nodded.

"Fia, use Heat Wave and end this!"

Fia used the attack and it was able to hit the miltank. Melty was pushed back and hit the wall yet again. This time, there was enough damage to knock her out. The miltank fell forward onto the ground from the wall. It was knocked out, and Kine had won. Cadmus snapped out of his infatuation and jumped up and down, along with a tired Ruva. Whitney turned away from Kine.

"Waaaaah! Waaaaah!...You meanie!"

Kine took a step back because of her shock to the gym leader's reaction.

"The hell...?"

Kine tried to ask for her badge, but Whitney would not stop sobbing. Kine sighed and turned around after returning Cadmus and Ruva. She didn't want them walking around when they were tired like that. She could come back and ask for the badge later. She tried to walk out of the gym, but one of the gym trainers stopped her.

"Hey, don't worry about Whitney. She always gets like this when she loses. You just have to go back up to her and try again."

Kine sighed. Why did one gym leader have to be this difficult to deal with? She turned around, and walked back to Whitney with Fia on her shoulder. Kine took a breath in before speaking.

"Hey, can I have my badge now? I did win it from you."

Whitney turned around to face Kine.

"... What? What do you want? A Badge? Oh, right. I forgot. Here's the Plain Badge. Oh, yeah that's right! I heard this thing called the Pokéathlon Dome is now open right next to the National Park. You should go try it, since you're so good at battling with your Pokémon!"

Kine nodded.

"Oh, before you go, the next gym is in Ecruteak. Good luck."

She smiled again, and Kine walked out. She had to get to a Pokemon Center to get her team healed.

When Kine finally made it to the Pokemon Center and handed her pokemon over to Nurse Joy, she sat down on one of the chairs in the lobby. Kine leaned back and crossed her arms. Whitney had said that there was something called a Pokeathlon Dome somewhere nearby, but was it really worth it to waste time and check it out?

The trainer shook her head. No, that would just be a big waste of time. She needed to get through all the gyms so she could go to Unova and get a Fire Stone for Fia. What she needed to do was get to Ecruteak and win that gym battle. Then she would have four badges with her.

Kine took out her bag and found her three badges. She found that there was a pocket on the inside of her bag where she could put all of her badges. She found a way to clip them inside that pocket and have them all semi organized.

Kine suddenly felt a hot burst of air near her face. She looked up and saw Fia glaring at her. Nurse Joy was standing there with Fia, Ruva, and Cadmus. They were out of their pokeballs, and for the last few minutes, they were trying to get Kine's attention.

Nurse Joy smiled and bowed.

"Thank you for visiting the Pokemon Center. Have a nice day."

Kine nodded and walked out of the Pokemon Center. She decided that it was time to go look for some daggers or something. She did want to be able to finish the league as fast as she could, but she wouldn't be able to do it if she got killed by some random wild pokemon.

She walked with her pokemon around the city as she looked around. She wanted to explore more of the town as well. After walking around for a while, she found something like an entrance to go underground. She walked toward the entrance with her pokemon behind her.

When she got to the bottom of the stairs, she saw many things related to pokemon care. There wasn't anything she could see that would really help her. She decided to walk around more because it couldn't hurt to look around, right?

Many people were staring at Fia as Kine walked by. Some were out in the open and looking in awe, but Kine noticed some of them that were in the shadows and had a glint of something else in their eyes. The trainer looked around, and then walked over to a bench. She was going to find one of those people in the shadows and see where they went.

Kine turned to her pokemon, and returned Ruva and Cadmus. Keeping Fia out would be a good way to lure out those people in the shadows.

Kine started walking again, this time, with only Fia out. She was also walking closer to the walls and walking differently. She walked in a manner that was more relaxed and confident, as if she were a figure with power. She kept walking until she saw a man signaling to her.

The man was wearing black clothes, including black gloves, sunglasses, and a hat. He had a scowl on his face.

Kine walked over to the man, and he silently led her to another area, one that not many trainers went through. Most trainers didn't want to go underground, since they thought there was only an area to take pictures of their pokemon.

The man stopped, and Kine looked at what was behind him. She wasn't really that impressed. There weren't that many things. In fact, there was barely anything. Just a few knives here and there.

As Kine was looking, the man decided to talk.

"Does anything interest you?" he asked in a husky voice.

Kine turned to look at him.

"I mean, do you want to buy anything? I'm a merchant from Kanto, but I have to sell these beauties in secret because of some...issues with you Johtoans."

"Issues. So you're saying you smuggled these."

The man looked a little intimidated. "Let's not talk about that. You want a dagger, yes? I see the way you walk. You like having those types of things with you."

Kine rolled her eyes. "And how would you know that?"

The man looked more smug.

"Just the way you hold yourself," he said. He then held up Kine's gun. "And because of something like this."

Kine immediately looked on the inside of her jacket. The man definitely had her gun. She looked back at him and all he did was smirk. The trainer sighed and returned her pokemon, not wanting to take anymore chances with this guy.

Kine walked around and picked up two daggers, and a couple of hunting knives. All the knives were really good quality, so it did make choosing them. As for the daggers, the man had many to choose from. Kine picked the two that she saw as the best.

When Kine was done, she looked at the man and said, "What do you want for them?"

The man just held up the gun. It took a few moments to decide, but a Kine accepted the deal, especially since she doesn't use her gun all that much anyway.

The man led Kine out and wished her a good rest of the day. Kine hid her new purchase inside her jacket and went back above ground to the main part of the city. Now that she had protection, it was time to move on to Ecruteak.

* * *

 **And that is the end of the chapter. Hope you enjoyed!**


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